Kanto: Revisited
by Lygatto-Un-Sorceror
Summary: Ash sets out to become champion of the Kanto region although he decides to challenge the Kanto Gyms again after taking a break
1. Setting Out, An Old Friend Returns

After Ash's Sinnoh journey, he decided to take a break from challenging Pokemon Gyms to learn more about the Pokémon that he currently had and level them up some more before challenging gyms again. This tale starts after his break was over...

"See ya mum" Ash called out behind him to his mother as he ran off with Pikachu following after him.

Delia said to herself "that Ash, off on another journey, even if he has done it before." Ash, however, was on his way to professor Oak's laboratory to pick up his Pokémon.

25 minutes later Ash arrived at professor Oak's lab and knocked on his door. To Ash's utmost surprise professor Oak didn't open the door, Gary did. Gary, who had only stopped in at Pallet Town to visit his grandfather on his way to Viridian City was just as shocked as Ash. Gary, seeing Ash said "hey Ash, what's up?"

Ash replied "I'm going to challenge the Kanto league again, so I came here to pick up the Pokémon that I'm going to use."

Gary, stunned at Ash's proclamation asked "really, why would you do a thing like that?"

Ash replied "well, as you know, my ultimate goal is to become a Pokémon master, and one of the steps that I can see to that, is to become champion. According to Pokémon league rules, the only way to become champion is to beat your 'home league,' and then battle the current elite four. Only after that can you challenge the champion to a title match."

"So that's why you took your break, I thought that it was odd that you decided to 'take a break,' only to spend it all training your current Pokémon."

"Yeah well, you know me."

"So, who are you going to take?" Gary asked.

"Well, Pikachu obviously..."

"I never thought you wouldn't."

"Yes well, I'll also take Sceptile, Garchomp & Infernape..."

After waiting about a minute or so for Ash to continue what he was going to say Gary asked "who else?"

"I really don't know who else I should take, maybe I'll leave them as floating spots.. wait a minute, can I borrow your phone for a minute?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Ash said "thanks, come on, you'll want to see this too."'

"See what?" Gary asked.

"Wait a minute & you'll... no, actually on second thoughts forget it."

"Forget what?"

"Well, I was going to call Liza over in the Charcific valley and ask her to send Charizard over, but then I remembered that he has a thing for her Charizard."

"Oh, so Pokémon can actually fall in love then."

"Yeah, Dawn's Buneary fell for Pikachu before we even saw it. It was kind of embarrassing to tell you the truth."

Both Ash and Gary laughed at that & then Ash decided to get on with what he went there for and said "right, time to get those Pokémon then."

Gary echoed Ash and said "right, let's get going."

"What d'you mean, 'we'?"

"Didn't you hear then?"

"Hear what?"

"The Pokémon league asked me to become the Viridian City Gym leader."

"Good on ya Gary, guess I'll be battling you at some point then."

"Guess so" Gary replied.

At this point they reached Professor Oak's pokeball storage facility. Ash went to get the pokeballs of Sceptile, Garchomp and Infernape while Gary went over to a different location in the room and got the pokeballs of Electivire, Umbreon, Magmar and Scizor. The both of them then left Professor Oak's lab together.

5 minutes later, on their way to viridian city a Pidgeot suddenly landed in front of them. Gary stunned at the docile way it was acting, and never having seen it as a Pidgeot asked Ash "do you know this Pidgeot Ash?"

"I don't know..." Ash then has a flashback to when he told his Pidgeot to stay with a flock of pidgey and Pidgeotto to protect them and then said to the Pidgeot in front of them "wait a minute, is that you, did you come back?" The Pidgeot, seemed to understand Ash and inclined it's head a little as if to answer Ash in the affirmative. Ash then flung his arms around it and said "good to see you again buddy. So the flock is safe then is it?" Pidgeot once again inclined it's head and this time made a cawing noise as if to add more weight to what it was saying. Ash then turned to Gary and said "so do you want a lift?"

"A lift, what do you mean?"

Ash then turned to Pidgeot and asked it "can you give a ride to Gary?" Pidgeot, once again, answered in the affirmative and turned around so it was facing away from Gary so he could get on its back. Ash then reached around to his belt, which had all his pokeballs on it, grabbed one and called out "Garchomp, I choose you" and threw the pokeball away a few feet. When the pokeball hit the ground, it opened up and Garchomp came out of, it then closed again and went back to Ash's hand. Ash then put it back in his belt and said to Garchomp "I'm gonna need a lift." Garchomp got on all fours and let Ash stand on its back before he took off.

Seeing Ash took off, Gary said to Pidgeot "fly Pidgeot." Soon enough Gary caught up to Ash, who had seen that he was pulling away from them and had told Garchomp to slow down a bit. Gary said to Ash "that Garchomp of yours is really fast."

Ash replied "yeah well, one of the things we worked on was its speed flying."

"I can tell, Pidgeot is supposed to be one of the fastest flyers around but your Garchomp blasted past it by miles."

"Yeah, well Garchomp jumped the gun a bit too, so that might have something to do with it."

"Possibly, so where are you going after Viridian?"

"Pewter City."

"Pewter City huh?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I heard that your friend, you know that one that had the Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny issues, has taken over the gym again and is beating all comers. Misty's no pushover either."

"Well, that's no surprise."

"Heh, I guess you've reigned in that temper of yours after all."

"hngh, it's not only my Pokémon that've gotten stronger."

"I can tell.. ah, there's Viridian City."

"So it is, okay then, Garchomp, Pidgeot, let's go." The two Pokémon and their riders then began to circle down to land next to the Pokémon Centre. When they landed Gary said to Ash "you'd better put Pidgeot into a pokeball before someone tries to catch it."

Ash, having completely forgotten about that fact in the excitement of meeting his Pidgeot again gasped and said "oh god, I completely forgot." Garchomp and Gary had sweat drops appear on the side of their faces at that bit of information. Ash, seeing this got two pokeballs out, stretched out his arm with one of them in the respective hand and said "Garchomp return." He then got the other one and lobbed it at Pidgeot, the pokeball moved from side to side a few times and then clicked, signifying to them that Pidgeot was captured. Seeing that the recapture was successful Ash, once again lobbed the pokeball and called Pidgeot out. Pidgeot appeared out of the pokeball and Gary put his hand on the space between Pidgeot's neck and its wing and said "thanks for the lift Pidgeot." Pidgeot indicated that it was no problem for a friend of Ash's by nodding it's head and cawing. Ash then said to Pidgeot "right then, I'm gonna need you to give me a lift to Pewter City Pidgeot." Pidgeot, once again cawed and then turned its back to Ash, who after he got onto Pidgeot's back, turned to Gary and said "well, see you in a while."

"It'll be a full 6 on 6 battle, with substitutions allowed."

"Good to know, you better not lose till then Gary."

"Heh, sure thing Ashy-boy."

"What was that!?"

"Heh, just kidding. Seriously though, all of the Kanto gym leaders have gotten a lot stronger since we first took them on."

"Well, there'd be no point in doing this if they hadn't, would there?"

"I guess not. Well, as I said, see you soon."

"Yeah, see ya" Ash said, and then said to Pidgeot "right, onto Pewter City."


	2. Pewter City

Ash arrived at Pewter City on Pidgeot's back and looked around for the gym from the air. When Ash sighted the gym he landed in the back garden of the house that was next to it. When Brock heard something in the backyard he rushed out to see what it was, when he saw that it was Ash he said "I know that you like flashy Pokémon moves, but do your entrances have to be as well?"

Ash chuckled a bit, scratched the back of his head and said "yeah, sorry about that."

"So, what are you doing here?"

"I came for a gym battle."

"Really, so you're going for the title of champion now huh."

"Yeah, sure am. Figured I'd go around trounce all the gym leaders first though."

"You better watch out, I'm the gym leader here now ya know, and all of the Kanto gym leaders are stronger than before."

"Yeah, so?"

"Remember that little 'bout that you had with Drake."

"Yeah, I know, be confident but not overconfident, right."

"That's right."

"I know that, it's just that I've learned a lot about my Pokémon in the six months that I took off, plus, I've got a surprise for you."

"Is that so? Well, do you think that the battle could wait until after lunch?"

"Sure, why not."

"Come on in, there's more than enough for you too."

"Cool, thanks Brock."

"No problem."

The both of them went in and Ash saw all of Brock's brothers and sisters gathered around the table. When Ash took the sight in (he still gets stunned at all the mini-Brocks) he saw that Flint and Brock's mother weren't around at the moment, Ash turned to Brock and asked "so, where's your mother and father now?"

"They went off on another trip. That was of course after they tried to 'modernize' the gym again."

"That so, what did they do this time?"

Brock's brother Forester answered Ash's question by saying "Mom decided that it'd be a good idea to have a ceiling mural painted depicting all water, grass and ice type Pokémon."

"That so?" ash asked.

"Yes, it is, unfortunately it was done when I went to visit Celadon City."

"Celadon City, why'd you go there?"

"Ah, that's one of the surprises."

"Heh, sounds great."

Brock said "lunch is ready" and then dished it out.

Whilst Ash, Brock, and his family were having lunch Brock said to Ash "so, what were you doing these past six months, did you catch any new Pokémon?"

"Nope, not a single one."

Forester said "well, if you didn't catch any new ones and my big brother already knows what you have, then what's the point of battling?"

"If you watch our match, you'll see." Brock then turned to Ash and asked him "do you mind if my brothers and sisters watch our match?"

Ash replied "not at all."

"Alright, now that everyone's finished, it's time to do the dishes." Brock and his family proceeded to do the dishes and put everything away and when that was done Brock said "right, let's go to the gym, and please, ignore the monstrosity on the ceiling."

"Sure thing Brock." When they got inside the gym though, Ash couldn't help but to look up at the ceiling and what he saw stunned him, it was unlike the previous attempts to modify the gym in that this time the artists had actually outdone themselves. The ceiling had a picture of a menagerie of grass type Pokémon drawn upon it, there was a Treeko, Venusaur, Meganium and a Tropius, there was also a Swampert, Lapras and Blastoise. There were such ice types as Articuno, Jynx and Dugong there as well. Now, to Ash this would have been an amazing piece of art to be treasured, if it was anywhere else, however it was in a rock type gym and it was totally out of place in his opinion so he said to Brock "uh, why don't you get your Ludicolo to get rid of that?"

"I've tried, they've done something to it this time that the only option is to completely rebuild the gym, or the roof at least."

"I see your problem, ah well, on to our battle."

"Right, Forester, will you be the judge for this battle?"

"Sure thing bro." Forester then stood on the judges' platform and said "this'll be a three on three battle, the challenger can make substitutions. The challenger may call their first Pokémon."

Ash thought to himself *well, Pewter City is a rock type gym, however this is Brock and he's caught quite a few other types along the way when we were travelling together. Well, here goes.* He then said out loud "Sceptile, I choose you."

"Sceptile huh, I thought so, that's why I'm choosing," Brock reached around behind his back, grabbed a pokeball and said "Ninetails."

Ash said out loud "so a Ninetails huh, looks like you're full of surprises too Brock." Ash seeing that he no longer had the type advantage, got Sceptile's pokeball back out, said "return Sceptile" then recalled Sceptile and grabbed another pokeball and said "come on out, Garchomp."

After seeing what Ash had done Brock's eyes widened and he stammered out "y-you evolved Gible?"

Ash replied "of course I did, after all, I need a way to fight Lance's dragons if Glalie faints."

Brock said "so, you're thinking ahead a lot more that you used to."

"Thanks, now, _dragon pulse_ Garchomp."

Brock called out "Ninetails use _fireblast_."

To the surprise of Ash Ninetails' _fireblast _completely negated his Garchomp's _dragon pulse_. Seeing what happened, Ash called out "fine then, Garchomp use _dragon claw_."

"Get out of the way Ninetails" Brock called out. Garchomps' attack hit Ninetails and Ninetails fell to the ground and it's eyes became swirls. Forester therefore had no choice but to call out, "Ninetails is unable to battle, the victory goes to the challenger. The gym leader will now call out the next Pokémon."

Brock, returning Ninetails to its pokeball said "you did great Ninetails" Brock said out loud to Ash "well done Ash, I never thought that you'd evolve Gible."

"Yeah well, as I said I needed a way to beat Lance."

"That's very well and good, but now there's no holding back." Brock then thought to himself *okay, so far Ash's used Sceptile, a grass type and Garchomp a dragon and ground type. He's also got his Pidgeot back, even if he thinks that I didn't see it before. I'm going to need to play smart here; this Ash isn't like the one that was there 6 months ago. Garchomp is weak to dragon and ice type moves, therefore...* Brock then called out "Steelix, I choose you" he then threw Steelix's pokeball out onto the field.

Ash said to himself "Steelix huh, alright then..." he then continued in a louder voice "Garchomp return."

Brock said to Ash "getting scared?"

Ash replied "not quite, Infernape, come on out."

Brock, depressed-like said "you brought Infernape too."

"Yep, sure did."

Brock sighed and said "Steelix, _dragonbreath_."

Ash called out "Infernape, _fireblast_." The two attacks once again cancelled each other out and Ash called out through the smoke "Infernape, _close combat_."

Brock, hearing Ash's command quickly got out "Steelix, _earthquake_."

Infernape didn't even see it coming and got knocked out in one hit. Ash stunned said "wow, Steelix is tougher than I thought. Alright then, Garchomp, come on out" Ash then threw Garchomps pokeball onto the field. When Garchomp was out Ash immediately said "_draco meteor_." Garchomp raised its head and fired a ball up into the sky. Brock, who knew that that _draco meteor_ would be the end of Steelix called out "Steelix use _giga impact_." Energy started surrounding Steelix who had started charging Garchomp. Steelix collided with Garchomp right before the _draco meteor_ hit and after the smoke cleared from the extra 'meteors' that had been launched both Pokémon were knocked out. Forester called out "both Pokémon are unable to battle, both of you recall your Pokémon." Ash and Brock got their pokeballs out and recalled their respective Pokémon. Both trainers complimented their Pokémon on a battle well fought. Forester called out "as Ash's Pokémon would have been knocked out first, the challenger may call out their Pokémon first."

Ash said out loud "right, Sceptile, I choose you."

Brock, knowing that it was the last Pokémon that the both of them would be allowed to use called out "Crobat, come on out."

"Crobat huh, alright then. Sceptile _frenzy plant_." Sceptile stomped on the ground and vines came out of the ground surrounding Crobat. When Ash saw that Crobat was pinned to the ground with the frenzy plant, he called out "Sceptile, _energy ball_." Sceptile gathered energy for the _energy ball_ and then Ash called out "now,_ leafblade_." Sceptile, to Brocks surprise, used the _leafblade_ to _send energy ball_ flying faster towards his pinned Crobat. When the _energy ball_ hit Crobat, due to the increased speed induced by the leafblade, also with leafblade being a grass type attack, it inflicted increased damage on Crobat. As a result, Crobat was left on the ground, fainted. Forester called out "this battle goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum, from pallet town. Therefore due to his defeat of three of the gym leaders' Pokémon, he is awarded the boulder badge."

Ash called out "alright, I got the boulder badge."

Brock walked over to where he was and said "well done, I must say, I wasn't expecting that you evolved Gible."

"Yeah well, as I said earlier, I needed a way to battle Lance's dragons."

"Well, you've still got a ways to go yet before Garchomp's fit to take on Lance's dragons by itself."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm taking on the gyms again."

"Good plan. So, where're you going to go now?"

"Why, to see misty about a Cascade Badge of course."

"Mind if I come along?"

"No, I'd appreciate the company."

"Alright, so, off to conquer the Kanto Pokémon League again then, but first of all, let's go to the Pokémon centre."

"Right" Ash agreed with Brock.

"So Pidgeot came back then, huh."

"Yeah, it gave Gary a lift to Viridian City."

"Really, so you two on good terms now then?"

"Yeah, I guess so, although I'll definitely be challenging the Viridian City gym again."

"Alright, after we leave our Pokémon at the pokecentre you can stay at our house for tonight."

"Thanks Brock."

Author's Notes

_Technique_

*thoughts*

"speech"


	3. Fearow, Fear Not

The next morning Ash and Brock went to the Pokémon centre. When they got there Ash suddenly said "you know what, I'd better contact Professor Oak while we're here & tell him of Pidgeot's return."

"That's a good idea, while you do that I'll go talk to..." Brock's voice took on a lecherous tone "...Nurse Joy-y."

"You do that" Ash said seeing where Brock was looking. Ash then thought to himself *hmn, I wonder if he brought...* then Ash heard a sound of intense pain coming from the front desk and Ash said to no one "I guess so then." Ash then continued on his way to the vid-phones and phoned Professor Oak.

When Professor Oak answered the phone he said "oh, it's Ash. I heard your Pidgeot came back. How is it?"

Ash slumped his shoulders dejectedly and said "I guess Gary told you then?"

Professor Oak answered "yeah, he contacted me as soon as he arrived at the gym."

"well then, I don't need to tell you about my trip to Pewter City then."

"Not really."

"Well, I won my gym battle."

"Really, congratulations. By the way, how's Garchomp doing?"

"He's fine, he actually took down two of Brock's Pokémon yesterday."

"Really, well done, after all, it's only been a few weeks since it evolved."

"Thanks, I know that it's got a ways to go before it's ready to pit against lance though."

"Well, I've got to go, Tracy can't handle everything on his own yet you know."

"Yeah, see ya."

Ash then hung up and went to the front desk of the Pokémon Centre, seeing Brock lying on the floor he reached down and helped him up saying "so, you brought Croagunk with you then?"

Brock replied still in pain "yeah, I thought that I might need some power on this trip & it's close to evolving."

"Really, so you've been training your other Sinnoh Pokémon then?"

"Of course, gym leaders can't just lie around doing nothing all day."

"I guess so."

"Ah, Nurse Joy, do you think that I can get Garchomp, Sceptile, Infernape and Pidgeot back?"

"Certainly, the only one that had any kind of severe damage inflicted was Garchomp, what happened to it?"

Brock answered "well, Ash here used it in a gym battle against me and I had to use _giga impact_."

"Well, they're all healed up now."

"Thanks Nurse Joy" Ash said.

Brock asked Nurse Joy "can I have mine back too?"

"Yes, though Ninetails suffered too much damage and will need to stay here for another day."

"Alright, if you say so, thanks for everything."

Ash retrieved his pokeballs and clipped them to his belt except for Garchomps. Brock asked "what are toy keeping Garchomp's pokeball out?"

"Well, I thought that you'd like to take the express route to Cerulean City, unless there's somewhere that you need to go to on the way?" Ash replied.

"No no, there's nothing that I need to do."

"Alright then." By this point they had exited the Pokémon Centre, Ash reached around his back and got Pidgeot's pokeball out and said "right then, come on out, Pidgeot and Garchomp." So saying, a beam of red light shot out of the pokeballs that Ash was holding and Pidgeot & Garchomp materialized. Ash said to Pidgeot "alright, I'm gonna need you to give Brock a lift to Cerulean City." Pidgeot turned its back to Brock, Brock got on and Pidgeot took off. Ash then turned to Garchomp and said "right, it's our turn now." Garchomp repeated the process that it went through when Ash rode it the day before.

When Ash & Garchomp caught up to Brock & Pidgeot Brock yelled over to Ash "hey Ash, I never thought that riding on the back of a flying Pokémon would be anything like this."

"Yeah, there's nothing like it, is there?" Ash replied.

Brock answered "yeah, you're right about that..." Brock suddenly paused catching sight of something in the distance; he was however unable to see exactly what it was as all he could see was a shadow diving down and flying back up every 30 seconds. He then continued "...het Ash, do you see that over there?"

Ash, squinting, replied "yeah, I do. I wonder what it..." Ash got an idea and checked out the, whatever it was with his pokedex. The pokedex came back with "Fearow: It shoots itself suddenly high into the sky..." hearing the beginning of the entry Ash got annoyed with the current situation and slammed his pokedex shut before it could finish reporting on the data of Fearow. Ash then said more to himself than to Brock "Fearow, no, it couldn't be..."

"Ash, you don't think that it could be that same Fearow do you?"

"Well, the attitude matches, if it is that one then it's my responsibility to take care of it. Garchomp, let's go." With that Ash, Pikachu & Garchomp broke off from their current flight path to take care of the Fearow that had plagued Ash since the very start of his journey. Ash turned to Pikachu and said "ok Pikachu, when you can, I want you to jump down on it and give it the most powerful _thunderbolt_ that you can, alright." Pikachu gave an affirmative in its usual vernacular. Momentarily Garchomp got into an ideal position for Pikachu to jump onto Fearow's back & Pikachu enacted Ash's plan perfectly. However, Fearow still started to fly faster to catch up to Garchomp and started charging a _hyper beam_, which, not only would severely injure Garchomp, but would also, in Fearow's mind, exact its revenge for Ash throwing a stone at it all those years ago.

Seeing Fearows plan, Ash called out "Garchomp, turn around and use _dragon pulse_." Now, normally this would have taken Garchomp a long time to turn around in mid-air but it was something that Ash and Garchomp had worked on during Ash's 'break.' Garchomp quickly turned around in mid-air and launched a _dragon pulse_ at point blank range prior to the completion of Fearows gathering enough energy for _hyper beam_. Fearow took the attack head on and Ash, seeing that Fearow was exhausted and the flapping of its wings was no longer capable of maintaining flight, threw a pokeball at it.

Now this would not normally be much of a problem, however, Pikachu was still on Fearows back. When Fearow got sucked into Ash's pokeball Pikachu fell down. Seeing this Ash ordered Garchomp to fly as quickly as it could to prevent Pikachu from crashing into the earth from 100 feet in the air. Ash saw the futility of his plan very quickly as Pikachu stayed out of their reach, so Ash called out "Pikachu, use _iron tail_ on the ground to cushion your fall."

When they were all on the ground Ash told them that they had to find Fearows pokeball before anyone tried to release it. Two minutes later, Ash found it and then went back to where the clearing that they had landed in before. Ash & Pikachu got on Garchomp's back with Ash's recently caught Fearow and Ash said "Garchomp, let's go." Once in the air Ash said to Pikachu "I'm worried about what'll happen when Fearow is released Pikachu."

Pikachu, understanding Ash's concern said in what could be construed as a thoughtful tone "Pika, Pikachu-u-u."

"Well, I'll have to send it to Professor Oak for now, maybe he'll know what to do." Pikachu agreed with Ash and climbed up on Ash's shoulder, then Ash said to Garchomp "alright, we have to catch up with Brock now"


	4. Cerulean City

Meanwhile Brock had arrived above Cerulean City & came in to land outside the Pokémon Centre. Brocks landing caused a commotion, as there are few trainers who fly on their Pokémon's back in the Kanto region, and a crowd started to gather around him. One of the citizens in the crowd asked "is that your Pidgeot?;" another one asked "did you train it up, or catch it in the wild?;" someone else called out "did you come here to challenge the gym leader?"

Brock, stunned by the rambunctious greeting that he was getting could only stammer out "uhm, ahh..." luckily for Brock Misty broke through the crowd and asked "what's going on here?" seeing Brock and Pidgeot looking stunned she said "alright, break it up and get going." Hearing the orders from their gym leader the crowd moved off and continued what they were doing before Brock landed. Misty, after turning back to face Brock almost shouted "and you, what exactly are you doing here, and when did you catch a Pidgeot? I read all of the Pokémon League journals and none of them have reported that you have any flying Pokémon, other than Crobat, let alone one as powerful as Pidgeot... wait a minute. Is that Ash's?"

Brock informed Misty "yeah, it is. He loaned it to me so we could fly over here from Pewter City.."

"Is that so?" Misty's eyes took on a sideways squint and then she asked Brock "so where is he then?"

"Uh, he should be getting here any minute now."

"So, is he on Charizard then?"

"No, Charizard is still with Liza in the Charcific Valley, Ash's on one of the Pokémon that he caught in the Sinnoh region."

"Really, what is it?"

"Well, why don't you ask him yourself, he's right over there" Brock said looking over Misty's shoulder.

When Ash landed he got off of Garchomp and put him back in his pokeball & tried to hurry to the vid-phones in the Pokémon Centre, however he was stopped by Misty calling out to him saying "hiya Ash, how've you been?"

"Better than ever."

"So, you took care of it then?"

In reply Ash brought out Fearows pokeball and said "more or less."

Misty asked "what exactly did you 'take care of'?" Ash, for his part, scratched the back of his head and said "well, you know that flock of Spearow that attacked us all those years ago?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, the Fearow that was the leader of them was terrorizing more Pokémon and, seeing as I was probably at least partly responsible for it turning out like that..."

"What do you mean 'partly'?" Misty interrupted.

Ash then, ignoring Misty's barb, continued on "well, I decided that it was my responsibility to put an end to it."

"You didn't..."

"Kill it? Of course not, I caught it."

Brock at this point, concernedly said "uh, I hate to be a killjoy, but, you aren't going to release it here, are you?"

"Of course not. I was about to send it over to Professor Oak. I figured, if anyone would know how to calm it down, it would be him" Ash replied.

Misty, getting kind of depressed with the topic at hand took the opportunity to ask Ash "so, you're challenging the Kanto gyms again then?"

"Yeah, that's the plan anyway."

"Well then come on, I'll have you challenge my sisters."

"Uh, are you sure about that? I mean, the last time I challenged your gym they wanted to just give me the badge."

"Yeah," Misty sighed "my sisters have gotten lax in their Pokémon training and are more interested in how they look and their blasted synchronized swimming show."

"So, they haven't changed at all in six years?"

"Oh no, they've changed alright, unfortunately it was for the worse. Now that I've returned full time, they leave running the gym entirely to me."

"O see, so you're suggesting that they need some 'motivation' as it were."

Misty smiled and, in a chipper tone, said "yep, that's about the gist of it."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do.

"Thanks a lot Ash."

"Now, to make that call." Ash, Misty and Brock then went into the Pokémon Centre and to the  
vid-phones that were inside. Ash then dialled Professor Oak. When Professor Oak's face appeared on the screen Ash said "hey professor."

Professor Oak, in a shocked tone said "why Ash, I wasn't expecting you to call me so soon."

"Yeah, I wasn't either. It seems that I just caught that Fearow that was terrorizing the Pidgey and Pidgeotto, just before I competed in the Orange League."

Professor Oak's voice turned serious "Ash, I don't want you to oped that Fearow's pokeball there, people could get hurt."

"Yeah, I was worried about it going berserk as well. I was thinking of sending it to you, to see if you can calm it down."

"I'll see what I can do, I can't promise anything right now though."

Ash suggested "you might want to consider calling Liza at the Charcific Valley, after all, I did have some trouble with Charizard for quite some time."

"I might just do that Ash, thanks for the suggestion" Professor Oak said, still in his professional manner.

Ash then told the professor "I'm going to need Floatzel, Feraligatr & Crawdaunt."

"Three water Pokémon! But you're going up against a water type gym aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I've been asked to 'motivate' the gym leader & this is the best way of doing it that I can think of."

"So, beat them at their own game, I guess that that's quintessentially you Ash."

"Yeah, well, I'll take that as a sideways compliment."

"Alright, I'll send them to you now. Oh, by the way, the Pokémon transfer machine has been improved and you can now send your entire team, minus one, between two locations now. So all you have to do is put the pokeballs that you want to send back to me in the slots and they'll be transported here."

"Thanks professor." A few moments later the transfer had been completed and Ash picked the pokeballs up from the receiving end of the machine and threw them a short distance. Floatzel, Feraligatr & Crawdaunt came out of the pokeballs and greeted Ash in their usual manner. Floatzel, seeing misty standing behind Ash questioned Ash as to her identity. Ash replied "oh right, Floatzel, you haven't met Misty yet, have you?" Floatzel shook his head and Ash said "right, Floatzel, this is Misty, Misty, this' Floatzel." Ash, turning saw that Misty's eyes had turned into large hearts and said to himself "apparently you haven't changed much either."

Misty got a dangerous glint in her eye and said to Ash, annunciating every syllable with intense anger, "what did you say!?"

"Uh, nothing" Ash squeaked out.

"Good" Misty said in a sickly-sweet tone. Ash wiped a hand across his forehead and thought to himself "whew, thank god I dodged that bullet." Ash then turned back to Floatzel, Feraligatr & Crawdaunt and said "well, it looks like I'll be using you guys to challenge another gym. This gym's leaders use water types. What do you say to that? You ready to win?" Ash's Pokémon exclaimed their glee in the prospect. Ash then recalled them, turned to Misty and Brock and then almost shouted "alright, let's go."

"Still as energetic as always I see" Misty said to herself.

Brock interjected "why don't you two go on without me, there's something that I have to do while I'm here...actually, Ash, could you lend me your Pidgeot?"

"Pidgeot, why?" Ash asked.

"Well, that way I can get back in time to see, at least some of, your battle with Misty's sisters."

"Sure, I guess so. What're you doing?"

"It's a surprise."

"Alright then, if you say so. Here you go" Ash then handed Pidgeot's pokeball to Brock. Misty and Ash then left for Cerulean City's Gym whilst Brock took off on Pidgeot's back, away from Cerulean City.


	5. Motivation

When Misty and Ash arrived at the Cerulean City Gym Ash was about to knock on the door and announce that he was going to challenge the gym when Misty said "don't bother, I have a key, remember, I am the gym leader here."  
Ash scratched the back of his head and said "oh, right." Misty unlocked the door and they entered the gym.

When they got to the pool area that acted as the battle field they saw Misty's sisters getting ready for one of their synchronized swimming shows. Misty, seeing what they were doing, went up to them and practically screamed "what d'you think you're doing!? We have a challenger."

Daisy said "well, we're like, getting ready for the show."

"Well that can wait, we have a challenger."

Ash interjected "uh, we can have the match, after, the show. After all, wouldn't that draw in a greater audience, they would be getting a 2 for 1 deal."

"When did you become a salesman Ash" Misty asked in a sarcastic tone.

Ash whispered to her "if I defeat them in front of a large audience that'll 'motivate' them more, don't you think? It'll might also detract from their swimming act. It'll also remind both, them & the people of Cerulean City just, what, a Gym is meant for."

"Maybe, sure, why not. Okay, you can have your battle after the show."

A half hour later the show got started. The show lasted an hour(1) and when Ash's Gym battle was ready to start Misty stood on the judges platform and announced "I will be the judge for this battle. The participants in this challenge is the Cerulean City Gym Leaders: Three Sensational Sisters versus the Challenger: Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." Misty paused for about 3 minutes to allow the cheers from the audience to die down; when they did, Misty continued "the rules for this match are..."

Ash interrupted Misty saying "uh, if it's alright with you I'd like to set the rules for this match."

Daisy startled at the suggestion started to say "no, you can't you'r..."

Misty stated "the decision over the rules remains my decision in the end, I am however willing to listen to your suggestions."

"That's fine" Ash said.

"Then please, go ahead."

"Alright, the battle will be three on three, there will be allowed only one Pokémon per trainer on the field at any one time. There are to be no substitutions on either side. The battle will continue until all of the opponents Pokémon are unable to battle."

Misty announced to the stunned crowd "I will accept the rule change for this battle only."

Some of the people in the crowd had travelled around, challenging gyms, in their youth and said, both to themselves and the people around them, "so it's going to be like two Gym Leaders challenging each other, this' going to either be a great battle or a complete slaughter."

When the murmurs of both excitement and discontent in the crowd died down, Misty announced "alright, the rules have been set, the Gym Leader may call her first Pokémon." Misty then took off her microphone and said to her sister "since this' a gym battle I'll let you use mine as well, alright."

Daisy, who was on the trainer platform nodded her head and said "thanks a lot Misty." Daisy then looked over to where her sisters were and said "can you get me Gyarados' pokeball?"

Violet said "sure thing sis." She went over to where the Gym's pokeballs were stored and retrieved Gyarados' pokeball, then threw it up to her sister.

Daisy caught it and then said "alright Gyarados, I choose you."

"Gyarados huh, well then, I choose you, Floatzel" Ash said whilst throwing Floatzel's pokeball towards the opposite end of the pool.

"What, you're using a water type Pokémon against our powerhouse Gyarados? Are you sure you don't want to change Pokémon, like, use your Pikachu or something?"

"No, Floatzel will be able to cream that Gyarados that you're using Gyarados hearing Ash's taunt and called out in rage and determination to prove that Ash was wrong in his boast. Daisy called out "alright Gyarados use _Hydro Pump_ now."

Ash said "alright Floatzel, use _Focus Blast_." The focus blast that Floatzel used completely countered the hydro pump that Gyarados used, Ash then called out "alright Floatzel, use _Aqua Jet_ to get close and then use _Ice Fang_." The _Aqua Jet_ carried Floatzel behind Gyarados' head and it then let fly with the strongest _Ice Fang_ that it could manage. Part of Gyarados' back got ice on it. Daisy called out "alright Gyarados, dive underwater to melt the ice." Gyarados dived down and the ice started to melt, Ash however wasn't going to let it just dilly dally around underwater until the ice melted. He called out "Floatzel, follow it underwater."

Daisy said to herself "oh yeah, Floatzel is a water type too." Ash, hearing what she said yelled out "how could you forget something like that. Well, never mind Floatzel use the water in the pool to power up a _Water Pulse_."

"What good'll that do?" Daisy asked dumbfounded.

Ash said "you'll see." Then, when Floatzel fired its _Water Pulse_, Ash called out "now, use _Aqua Jet_." Ash's Floatzel used _Aqua Jet_ to speed through the water and increased the power of the _Water Pulse_ that had already had a power boost from being in the water, needless to say Gyarados, when it got hit, fainted immediately.

Misty, stunned at the efficiency that Ash used to defeat her Gyarados announced "Gyarados is unable to battle, the battle goes to Floatzel and the challenger. The Gym Leader will now call her next Pokémon."

Daisy turned to Violet and said "you can have a go. I won't be able to beat him."

Violet said "well alright" Violet then walked up to the gym leader's platform and said "come on out, Politoed."

Ash said "Politoed huh, alright then. Floatzel, use _Aqua Jet_ and use _Ice Punch_." Floatzel used _Aqua Jet_, once again to get in close and started charging its _Ice Punch_ before it stopped. Violet, learning from what her sister did said "Politoed, dodge it and then use _Brick Break_." Politoed moved out of Floatzel's punching range while it was still using _Aqua Jet_ and charged a _Brick Break_. When it tried to use it on Floatzel however it launched into a _Counter Shield_ without Ash needing to give it a command. The _Counter Shield_ sent Politoed flying. It landed in the water though and suffered only the damage from the counter shield avoiding any damage from hitting anything. At this point Brock got back from whatever he was doing and sat in the back row to watch the rest of the match. He leaned over to one of the other people watching and asked "what's happened so far?"

"Well, first off, this challenger set the rules for the match and then the gym leader, Daisy called out the gym's Gyarados. The challenger then called out the Floatzel that is out now. He defeated Gyarados with a move that belongs more in a contest than a Gym battle."

"Really, what'd Ash do?"

"He used, not only an _Aqua Jet_ to give a boost to the _Water Pulse_ that he used, but incorporated the pools water into the attack as well, you could barely see it."

"Well, it looks like it's come a long way since Pastoria Cities Gym then."

"Wait a minute, do you know this trainer?"

"Yeah, I travelled with him for a number of years."

"So, who do you think will win this match?"

"To be perfectly honest with you, I don't think that the Gym Leader here stands a chance."

"Really, so did he come here to teach them a lesson or something?"

"No, currently he's aiming for the title of Kanto region champion. These gym battles are like a warm up for him. Teaching the Three Sensational Sisters a lesson was Misty's idea."

"Heh, I shouldn't really be surprised about that. She's always on about how her sisters don't take their positions as Gym Leaders seriously enough."

"Yeah well, let's get back to watching the match."

While the conversation between Brock and the old man in the crowd was taking place Ash had called out for Floatzel to use _Sonic Boom_ against Politoed who had recently come out of the water. Politoed dodged it and Violet called out "Politoed, use _Hyper Beam_." Ash stayed silent until it had completely charged the _Hyper Beam_ before he said "Floatzel, dodge by going in the water" Floatzel fell into the water backwards and Ash continued "now Floatzel, use _Giga Impact_. A mauve and orange energy started to surround Floatzel and start to spin around it as it charged quickly at Politoed. Politoed, who had just launched _Hyper Beam_ couldn't move to dodge the _Giga Impact_ and got hit. It immediately fainted and was pronounce unable to battle by Misty. Violet recalled Politoed and switched places with her last sister who, when she came out onto the Gym Leaders platform said to Misty, "uh, can I, like, forfeit the match?"

Misty shouted out "no!"

Lily said "fine then, Lanturn, take the stage."

"A Lanturn huh, they probably got that to take care of any electric types that they may come across" Ash said to himself. He said out loud to Lily "so, you caught that to throw people off guard then?"

"Something like that, it's actually Misty's Lanturn."

Ash turned to Misty and said "so, you're training electric types now?"

Misty said "well, I figured that I should have at least one way to catch people off guard, I learned that from you."

"Heh, well, I guess that I should feel honoured."

"Thanks Ash."

"Well, can we get on with the battle please?" Lily asked.

"Sure the third battle of this gym match may begin" Misty announced

Ash called out "Floatzel, _Ice Fang_." Floatzel used _Ice Fang _which inflicted little damage.

Lily said "Lanturn, use _Blizzard_." Lanturn used _Blizzard_ but Lily heard Ash say to Floatzel "use _Ice Aqua Jet_." Floatzel proceeded to spin the water for an _Aqua Jet _around him and then launched straight into the _Blizzard_. Floatzel got a covering of ice around him as he powered toward Lanturn. Lanturn took an some damage, it did however not inflict an amazing amount however. Ash, seeing that his Floatzel was starting to tire, was tempted to call him back before he remembered the rules that he set before the match started. Ash called out to Floatzel "alright Floatzel, use _Water Pulse_."

Lily said "that won't do anything."

Ash returned "it will when we do this. Floatzel, use _Water Pulse _again and then use _Aqua Jet_." The first water pulse hit Lanturn, inflicting little damage but it did turn it so that its stomach was turned towards Floatzel's next water pulse that was powered up by the aqua jet. When the _Aqua Jet-Water Pulse _hit Lanturn, once again took little damage, however it was enough for what Ash wanted. When everything had cleared there was a mist that had formed from all of Floatzel's powerful water attacks. This initiated Floatzel's Swift Swim ability. Swift Swim made Floatzel move faster when it was raining. Ash then called out "Floatzel, use _Brine_." Floatzel used _Brine_ on the stunned Lanturn who took the hit full on and lost consciousness. Misty then announced "the Gym Leaders third Pokémon has fallen, this gym battle goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum." The crowd cheered as the challenger, after setting his own rules, defeated their gym leader only using one Pokémon.

Ash then went over to Misty who said "thanks Ash, when you chose to use only water Pokémon I thought that you'd gone crazy."

Lily heard what Misty said to Ash and called out "you were only going to use water Pokémon!?"

Ash replied "Yeah, why?"

"You weren't going to use Pikachu then?"

"No." Lily then sank to her knees and when the crowd saw that they started shouting "what was going on," and "did he cheat or something?"

Lily, hearing what the audience was saying asked Misty for the microphone and, when she received it she turned to the crowed and said "the challenger didn't cheat, it was a fair fight and we lost."

Someone in the audience asked "then why'd you just fall down?" there were also calls of "yeah" in the crowd. Lily turned to Ash and, still talking to the crowd said "I just learned what other Pokémon that the challenger was going to use." Someone else in the crowd called out "what were they?" Lily, once again, turned to Ash and, speaking into the microphone, said "would you mind calling out the other Pokémon that you were going to use?"

Ash said "no problem." He then reached around and grabbed two pokeballs and threw them and out came Feraligatr and Crawdaunt. There were gasps and declarations of shock, awe and surprise coming from the crowd. Needless to say the crowd went into an uproar over the audacity that Ash had displayed by taking on a water type gym with only water Pokémon, let alone winning with just one. Ash waved to the crowd and said "both the gym leaders and I battled the best we could, I was just better today, if we fight tomorrow, who knows what could happen." The crowd were stunned at his humility and, after giving him another cheer began to disperse.

When everyone had left the stadium Brock came down to greet everyone and said "hiya."

Daisy, looking at Brock asked him "hey, um, aren't you that perv that came here with our sister and Ash last time?"

"Uh, I don't know how I feel about being remembered that way, but yes, it was me."

Ash and Misty sweat-dropped and at Daisy's question, Ash turned to Brock and asked "hey did you do what you wanted to do?"

"Yeah, I sure did."

"So, what was it?" Misty asked.

"It was this" Brock said whilst retrieving a pokeball. He then lobbed it a few feet and said "I'd like you to meet my newest Pokémon." The pokeball opened up and out came...a Bagon."

Ash said to Brock "uh, Brock, isn't that a..."

"Bagon, why, yes it is."

"But Bagon are native to the Hoenn region, you shouldn't be able to catch one here in Kanto."

Brock replied "yeah, well recently there was a cave discovered at the top of The Rock Tunnel & they found a settlement of Bagon, as it's a ground type, I just had to catch one."

"Fair enough" Ash said.

"Well done Brock... doesn't Bagon evolve into Salamence?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, it sure does; when it does, it gains a secondary type as well: the flying type."

Ash at this point interjected "well, it looks like soon enough we'll both have a pseudo-legendary Pokémon Brock."

"Yeah, we sure will. Although it does usually take longer for dragons to evolve" Brock replied.

Ash agreed saying "yeah, it took me a while to evolve Garchomp all the way."

Lily piped up and asked Ash "wait-a-minute, you have a pseudo-legendary Pokémon with you and yet you still didn't use it in our gym battle!?"

"Well yeah. It's half ground type, so it would be weak against all of your Pokémon and their water and ice type attacks."

"Well, here's your badge anyway" Lily said.

"Thanks a lot."

"So, where are you off to now Ash?" Misty asked.

"Well, I thought that we'd head off to Saffron City."

"Hey Ash, do you think that I could come along."

"Don't you have a gym to run?"

"I need a vacation. Besides, after your match, I think that my sisters will start taking their duties as gym leaders more seriously" Misty said whilst glaring at her sisters from the corner of her eyes.

Daisy, at Misty's jibe, said "like, totally."

Ash then said "well sure, we'd love for you to come."

"Thanks Ash, so when are we heading out?" Misty asked.

"Well, I have to get Floatzel to the Pokémon Centre, that battle tired him out something fierce. So, tomorrow."

"Okay, do you want to stay with us for tonight?"

"Sure, beats staying at the Pokémon Centre."

Misty then said "I want to make a stop off at the Safari Zone whilst were in Fuchsia City too."

Ash said "well, I had no intention of not going there."

Ash then went to the Pokémon Centre to leave his Floatzel with the rest of his Pokémon with Nurse Joy. He then went back to the Cerulean City Gym.

Author's Notes:

I will not be describing what happens during their synchronized swimming show, if anyone wants to, please send your request to my mailbox, not the review board

.


	6. To Saffron City

The next day Ash, Misty, Brock and the Sensational Sisters went to the Pokémon Centre to collect the Pokémon that they'd left there the night before. When they got to the front desk Brock went into pervert mode, at least until Croagunk used _poison jab _on him. Ash then asked Nurse Joy "can we have our Pokémon back?"

"Sure thing, they're as good as new" Nurse Joy replied whilst retrieving the pokeballs.

Misty said "thank goodness..." turning to look at Ash Misty continued "...your Floatzel put mine through the paces yesterday Ash."

"Yeah, sorry about that" Ash said while scratching the back of his head.

"No no, it's alright. It's what I asked you to do."

"Well, if you say so. Now, on to Saffron City" Ash said to Misty and Brock. He then said "now that Misty's with us we no longer have enough flying Pokémon to fly to all the different cities."

"That's ok; it'll be good to get some exercise" Brock announced.

"Alright, let's go" Misty almost shouted, excited at the prospect of being a travelling trainer once again.

This time, instead of going through rock tunnel, they went directly south of Cerulean City by suggestion of Misty, who stated "well, since Brock did what he wanted over there, why don't we go south this time?"

"I don't know. Is that even possible?"Ash asked.

Brock answered "actually, it is possible."

Misty, angrily said "of course it's possible, I live here, remember!"

"Right right, calm down Misty" Ash said, trying to placate Misty.

"I'll give you calm down!!" Misty shouted.

They saw a Surskit. Needless to say, that as Surskit is a water type Misty fell in love with it when she first laid eyes on it. She then announced to Ash and Brock "I've just got to catch it" she then threw a pokeball at it from behind, hoping to catch it off guard. Her plan, interestingly enough, actually worked as they heard a sound indicating that it had been caught. She then went over to the pokeball, picked it up and exclaimed "alright, I caught Surskit."

Ash said to Misty "congratulations Misty. You seem to have gotten over your fear of bugs."

Misty replied "no, I still find them revolting."

Brock interjected "ah, I hate to tell you Misty, but Surskit, is, a bug type."

Misty returned "but it's also a water type and that makes it alright."

Ash said to Brock "I'll never understand how her mind works."

Brock agreed with Ash and then went on to say "alright, let's move on."

"Sounds like a good idea" Ash said.

They moved on and walked for a few more hours until Ash's stomach started growling. Brock said, looking at his watch, "it's twelve o'clock already, we might as well stop for lunch."

Ash quickly said "alright."

Misty mumbled to herself "yeah, he definitely hasn't changed that much."

After lunch Brock said to Misty "hey Misty, do you want to battle?"

"What. Why?"

"Well, I'd like to see how my Bagon fares in battle."

"Alright, I'll use Surskit then."

Ash said to them "I'll just go over to the lake and work on something with Crawdaunt."

Misty and Brock simultaneously called out "sure thing Ash." Misty then said "come on out Surskit" throwing a pokeball away from her. Brock then called out "alright then, Bagon, let's go." When Bagon appeared, seeing its opponent got a fierce look on its face. Misty, seeing this, jumped back a bit in shock. Calming down, she then said "alright, I'll start things off. Surskit use _water pulse._"

Surskit, hearing Misty's command started looking left and right because it wasn't on a level high enough to use _water pulse. _Brock, seeing Misty's error said "alright Bagon, use _head butt_." Bagon rushed up to Surskit and rammed its head against Surskit. Brock then called out "now use _dragonbreath_." Bagon breathed out a cloud of gas that signified the use of _dragonbreath._ Surskit fainted and Bagon started glowing. Misty said "no way."

"It is" Brock said, almost as stunned as Misty was.

Misty, still stunned exclaimed in a subdued voice "it's just not possible."

Ash came back at this point and commented "huh, so Bagon is evolving into Shelgon."

"Yeah, after only one battle too," Brock mentioned.

"It must have been on a pretty high level when you caught it then."

"Yeah, you're right. Traditionally dragons take quite some time to evolve. Say, isn't this where team rocket usually shows up to try and steal Pikachu?" Misty asked.

Ash replied "yeah, but they gave up trying to steal Pikachu when Garchomp evolved."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I think they figured that after trying to steal my Pokémon and failing for 7 years they'd try someone else."


	7. Misty's Evolution

When they arrived in Saffron City the first thing that they did was to go to the Pokémon Centre to get Brock and Misty's Pokémon looked at after their battle on the way there. While they were in the Pokémon Centre Misty saw a poster advertising a Pokémon contest that was to be held in a week. When she announced to Brock and Ash one was being held Ash asked "You thinking of entering it Misty?"

"Yeah, sure am. After all, I am a gym leader, if I don't get any training done while I'm wandering around then I'll be just as guilty as my sisters. It'll also be a different way for me to train my water Pokémon."

"I guess so" Ash replied hesitantly.

"It's also a way to win gym battles when there's no type advantage...," she ducked down to talk to Pikachu and continued "...isn't that right Pikachu?"

Pikachu, quite readily, agreed with Misty and Ash had to admit "well, I had no choice, really" Ash said almost pleadingly."

"So, how many contests have you entered?" Misty asked Ash.

"About 3 or 4."

"3 or 4 and you were able to use only contest moves to defeat 3 of my strongest Pokémon!?"

"Well, I never really managed to make it to the semi–finals."

Misty's eyes widened and she then almost yelled "right, that does it. I'm definitely going for the Ribbon Cup at the Grand Festival now."

"Well, we'll help in any way we can Misty. After all, both Ash and I have travelled with very skilled co-ordinators for quite some time" Brock said, trying to calm Misty down.

"Thanks Brock, Ash. Now, the contest is in a week's time, so let's get to contest training."

Ash said "right, do you mind if we do it in the forested area outside of Celadon City"

Brock said "that should be fine besides it'd be good for Misty to have Pokémon to use, other than water Pokémon."

Misty, incensed at Brocks dismissal of her love of water Pokémon said, angrily "do you have a problem with water Pokémon?"

"No no, it's nothing like that" Brock stammered out.

Ash said "Misty, in contests you're judged, not only on your individual Pokémon, but also on variety, that's all Brock meant."

"oh, alright then" Misty said whilst scratching her head."

Ash blurted out "you would probably do well to catch a fire type."

"Why's that?"

"Ash's right Misty, you're a Gym Leader that specializes in water types. A lot of people will know this and bring grass and electric types to get an early advantage."

"Oh, right. Well I might catch a Houndour then."

Ash said "uh, that may not be the best idea Misty."

"Why not?"

"Because, contests are judged on your Pokémon's appearance, and there are better fire types around the area for contests."

"Like what?"

"Vulpix and Growlithe for starters, I'd suggest Vulpix personally" Brock interjected. Nurse Joy then brought their Pokémon over to them and said "your Pokémon are as good as new." They then left the Pokémon Centre and headed to the forest outside of Celadon City. Misty then asked Nurse Joy if how she registered for the upcoming Contest. Nurse Joy replied "oh, are you entering the contest then?"

"Yes, I thought that I'd give it a shot."

"Well, you have to register on the day of the contest."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a weeks' time."

"Alright then." The three trainers then left the Pokémon Centre to go to the forest outside the city.

When they got to the outskirts of the forested area around Celadon City Misty sighed and said "well, here's to hoping that we don't meet any more icky bug types while we're here." Just as Misty was, once more, declaring her revulsion of bugs a Weedle fell down from one of the trees and tapped one of the pokeballs attached to Misty's belt(1) as it was falling. The pokeball dinged shut, signifying a capture. When Ash and Brock heard it they looked at Misty who said "it wasn't me."

Ash insisted "well, the 'ding' came from your direction."

"I'm telling you that it couldn't have been me."

Brock suggested "well, why don't you just check the pokeballs that are supposed to be empty Misty?"

Misty said "fine then." She then threw the four pokeballs that didn't have any Pokémon in them into the air and, to her utmost shock (horror), a Weedle appeared. Misty got a weird expression on her face and said "e-e-w-w-w, I caught a Weedle."

Ash, almost snidely, said "well Misty, this'll expand your range even more."

Misty quickly said "hey Ash, I'll trade you for it."

"Sorry Misty, not happening."

"Well then, Broc..."

Brock cut Misty off before he could finish talking by saying "Don't even think it Misty, besides, Weedle seems to have taken a liking to you."

Misty, hearing what Brock was saying looked down and saw her Weedle rubbing up and down against her leg.

"You know, it might not be such a bad idea to have it Misty. After all, we do keep on having to run away from Beedrill don't we?"

"Well yeah, I guess so."

"Also, Caterpie and Weedle are quick evolvers."

"You're right there Ash, she'll be able to use it in the battle stage."

"Will you two, PLEASE, stop talking as if I'm not even here."

"I'm sorry, did you hear something Brock?"

Misty snidely said "very funny."

"All jokes aside Misty, you really should keep it" Ash said.

"Well, I'll think about it."

"Surskit needs a training partner Misty, all of my Pokémon are too high a level to be a good matchup for it, Brocks Pokémon have the same problem. Are you really going to try and train a Pokémon that you've just caught with one that you've had for years?"

"You've got a good point there. Alright then..." Misty crouched down to talk to Weedle and said to it "Weedle, it looks like you and I will be partners from here on out."

The Weedle made a sound that seemed to indicate that it was overcome with joy at the prospect. At that point a Vulpix came out from one of the bushes, curious about what all the commotion was about. When it saw Ash, Brock and Misty, it's curiosity was satisfied. With its curiosity satiated it turned around to leave. When it was about to move off into the bushes Misty said "alright Vulpix, I'm going to catch you."

The Vulpix, hearing what Misty said turned around, ready for battle. Misty called out Staryu. The Vulpix used quick attack knowing that one of its fire type moves would be ineffective against the trainers water type Pokémon. Whilst running towards Staryu the Vulpix's tail started to glow a white colour. Misty, while she was a Gym Leader, hadn't been to many regions outside of Kanto and hadn't had any challengers from the Hoenn Region. This left Misty clueless as to what the Vulpix was doing. The Vulpix, prior to hitting Staryu, twisted around and slammed its tail into Staryu.

Misty, seeing the extensive damage that Staryu had received from the combination attack called out "Staryu, use recover then water gun." The Vulpix, hearing Misty's command tried to execute the combination attack once again prior to Staryu's use of recover. Staryu however managed to use recover right before the Vulpix's attack hit. Due to recover still being in effect, when Staryu got hit by the iron tail it not only took no damage at all, it didn't even move an inch. The Vulpix, seeing that its move was ineffective started shaking when it saw Staryu finish recovering. When Staryu had recovered enough energy to continue fighting Misty called out "alright, use water gun." Misty's Staryu fired a water gun at the Vulpix and when it hit its mark the Vulpix fainted. Misty then said "pokeball go" whilst throwing the pokeball that she'd retrieved at the Vulpix. The pokeball shook a few times and then stopped making a noise that signified a capture. Misty, seeing the capture completed cried out "alright, I caught Vulpix."

Ash said "congratulations Misty, by the way, exactly which Pokémon did you bring with you?"

"I only brought Staryu along with me. I figure that my sisters are going to need all the help that they can get with all the slacking off that they've been doing lately."

"Okay then, this really was a good idea, you catching different types. I know that it was beneficial for me to learn how to battle with Torterra, and Garchomp uses a different battle style to all of my other Pokémon."

Brock said "you really struggled with Torterra when it first evolved into Grotle though."

"Yeah, I was too used to working with fast Pokémon that use mostly 'special' attacks."

"I guess you're right" Misty said "alright, on to training."

Author's Notes

Misty, in the time that Ash and Brock were travelling through the different regions Misty bought a belt to hold her pokeballs.


	8. Sign of the Aura Guardians

"Alright," Misty exclaimed while retrieving the pokeballs of Surskit and Weedle "Surskit, Weedle, come on out."

"So, how do you want to do this Misty?" Ash asked.

"Well, you call out attacks for Weedle whilst I call attacks out for Surskit."

"Ok." Ash then squatted down to talk to Weedle "looks like I'm going to be your practice trainer, alright?"

Weedle cocked his head to the side, as if asking "what d'you mean?" it then moved over to Misty; just then a Growlithe appeared out of the bushes looking as if it had just been in battle with another fire type. Seeing Ash, Brock and Misty the fur around its neck stood up and it growled, as if in warning. Ash said to Misty and Brock "alright, I'm going to catch it." He then picked a pokeball out and said "Floatzel, I need your assistance." Floatzel appeared from its pokeball and Ash commanded "use water gun." Floatzel did as ordered and the Growlithe fainted immediately, Ash then captured it in a pokeball and said to Misty and Brock "hey, did you see the burns that Growlithe suffered?"

"Yeah I did" Brock replied.

Ash said "Growlithe actually looked like it had gotten into a fight with another fire type, didn't it?"

Brock said "yeah, Growlithe are supposed to be tough battlers, so whatever it is, it must have been on a significantly higher level than it."

"Then we've got to stop it before any other Pokémon get hurt like Growlithe here."

"I suppose" said Brock.

Misty said "uh, am I the only one that sees a problem with this?"\

Ash replied "no, but we don't really have much of a choice here, do we?"

"I suppose not" Misty sighed.

They then went off in the direction that Growlithe had come from. When they got to a cave Ash said "whatever attacked Growlithe must be in here. You two wait here."

Misty blurted out "no, we're going with you."

Ash said calmly "Misty, you only have bug types, a Vulpix that you just caught and a Staryu. Brock has a Croagunk that might be able to stand up to whatever's in there. Like it or not, I'm the only one of us here that has Pokémon that'll be strong enough to fight back against whatever's in there."

Brock saw that Misty was about to vehemently disagree so he cut her off saying "Ash's right Misty. Until Shelgon evolves again I only have Croagunk & you have mostly Pokémon that you just caught."

Misty sighed and seeing that she was outnumbered said "fine then".

Ash entered the cave and when he got about twenty metres in he realized that he couldn't see anything, to remedy that, he took out a pokeball and said "come on out, Infernape."

When Infernape came out of its pokeball the flame on its head lit up the area around Ash, Pikachu and itself. Ash said "thanks Infernape" and continued on with their exploration of the cave. Soon enough they got to a massive cavern and Ash returned Infernape to its pokeball, so as not to gain the attention of whatever might be gathered therein. When his eyesight had adjusted, he leaned over the edge and what he saw astounded him. In the vast cavern, he saw that it was full of Arcanine, Growlithe, Houndoom, Houndour, Mightyena, Poochyena, Manectric, Electrike and to Ash's shock, he even saw some Lucario and Riolu there as well. Ash backed away from the cavern ledge and returned to the caves entrance.

When he exited the cave and saw Brock and Misty he said "I think that we should get Growlithe to a Pokémon Centre before attempting to do in there."

Brock asked "why, what did you see in there?"

"It was amazing Brock, there were dog Pokémon from just about every region down there."

"Really, then it'd be like a breeders paradise down there."

"Yes, well despite that, you can't tell anyone about this place

Misty asked "why, a place like that should be unveiled to the public."

"Look at what happened with Brock and his Bagon. As soon as he heard about it, the first thing that he did was go and catch one..."

Misty said "well that's..."

Ash cut her off saying "don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that Brock did anything inherently wrong, I'd probably have done the same thing. The point is that if the general public knew about this place then there'd be people coming here and combing the place just to find it. If they did and reported its exact location, well..."

"There'd be no more Pokémon there and the ecosystem of the region would take a hit" Misty said, seeing where Ash was going.

"We can't go down there without a reason either."

Misty asked "why's that?"

"There's a veritable army of Pokémon down there and what, you want to waltz on down there and try to start capturing them one by one?"

"huh, didn't think of it like that."

Ash then told them "you two stay where we left our gear and I'll go to the Pokémon Centre in Celadon City with Growlithe."

Misty almost shrieked "what, why do you get to go?"

"Because I caught Growlithe and we need someone to stay here whilst I take Growlithe to Nurse Joy."

Brock, running interference once again, said "Misty, you know Ash's right. Don't you need to train your Pokémon for the contest anyway?"

Misty sighed and said "you're right, hurry back Ash."

"Right" Ash said as he withdrew a pokeball from his belt, then he said "come on out, Pidgeot" throwing the ball away from him. When Pidgeot fully materialised Ash climbed onto Pidgeot's back and said "right, I need to get to the Pokémon centre in Celadon City as soon as possible Pidgeot." As Ash flew away on Pidgeot Misty said to Brock "he's really thinking now, isn't he?"

"Yeah, he is. Now onto that contest training" Brock replied.

When Ash got to the Pokémon Centre he rushed inside and said "Nurse Joy, it's Growlithe. He's really hurt, I think that it got into a fight with a stronger fire type and now it's all burned."

Nurse Joy replied "oh dear, I'll treat it right away."

Ash sighed and said "thank you."

Nurse Joy took Growlithes pokeball and walked off to the emergency room. 20 minutes later Nurse Joy returned from the ER and said to Ash "Growlithe is going to be just fine."

"Oh thank god" Ash sighed.

"But that doesn't excuse what you did young man" Nurse Joy stated angrily.

"But I just caught it, it was already in that condition."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that, recently there's been rumours of a trainer that trains his Pokémon so hard, that he actually injures them."

"It's perfectly understandable."

"It's not; I was just jumping to conclusions with no basis in reality. Your Growlithe is going to need to stay the here overnight for observation."

"That's fine, are there any rooms here?"

"You're in luck, there's still a few left. Here's the key for the single."

"Thanks see you later."

The next day Ash was at the front desk of the Pokémon centre and asked "Joy, can I have Growlithe back now?"

"Sure, here you go" Joy said, handing Ash the pokeball.

Ash then called out Growlithe. When Growlithe appeared it looked from side to side, looking for danger. Ash then said to it "Growlithe" it turned around to face Ash and cocked its head to the side "what do you say that we return you to your friends in that cave?"

Growlithe barked in agreement. Ash then said "Growlithe return" pointing the pokeball at him and Growlithe disappeared into a red light." Ash then left the Pokémon Centre and called out Pidgeot, got on its back and then flew off.

When they arrived at the cave Ash called out Infernape to light the way again. They then, with Pikachu, went back to the caverns opening. This time though they didn't stop at the top of the pathway down, but kept on walking. When they got to the bottom of the pathway he saw that every single Pokémon that was there had their eyes on them with what, to Ash, looked like glares. Ash raised his hands in front of him in a placating gesture & started to kneel down so that he could talk with them at their level. He then said "calm down now, don't do anythi0ng crazy."

One of the Lucario present came up to him and grunted out a few 'words' that Ash translated to mean "what are you doing here?

Ash replied "I'm just returning someone, that I believe, belongs here to you." Lucario made another series of grunts, which meant "huh, what're you on about?"

Ash then reached around his back, slowly, and said "Growlithe, come on out."

The Growlithe that Ash had caught appeared out of a red light and ran over Arcanine parents. It then conveyed to its mother that one of the Houndour present in the cave had attacked it while it(the Growlithe), had been out hunting for food. The Arcanine told the Lucario who was standing next to Ash, who sensed that the Lucario he had been interacting with, who seemed to be their leader just what the Growlithe had told it. Lucario then went over to the Houndour in question to ascertain the truth of what happened. After the Houndour had answered Lucarios questions it powered up a _bone rush_ to strike it with. Ash, seeing what Lucario was about to do, said to Infernape, that he hadn't yet recalled "Infernape, grab that bone." Before Lucario could swing it down on Houndour Infernape grabbed the bone. Lucario looked at Ash and Infernape in anger for preventing it from punishing the Houndour. Ash, seeing what would happen if he didn't do or say something said "Lucario, instead of enacting punishment in the form of more violence, why don't you let me take him away from here?"

Lucario, seeing the compassion in Ash's eyes, as well as reading his Aura, agreed with Ash's suggestion and ordered Houndour to go with Ash. Ash retrieved an empty pokeball from his belt and, squatting down, touched Houndour on the head with the pokeball.

After Ash had captured Houndour, another Lucario came over to where Ash and Lucario were with an egg an presented it to Ash, who asked "for me?"

The Lucario that had been communicating with Ash thus far looked to the Lucario, that Ash perceived was its mate and grunted an "are you sure?" Its mate answered with a nod and the Lucario that was the leader, to Ash's surprise, used telepathy to say "if you would, please don't tell anyone else about this place."

Ash replied "you have my word, although I did already tell my friends about it."

Lucario said "I know, I was merely testing you, I also know that you have already told them not to tell anybody else of this place."

Ash smirked and said "heh, did you read my mind or my Aura to learn that?"

"I didn't read either."

"Then how'd you find out?"

"My mate told me."

"Well then, can you tell her that it's not very polite to go poking around in other people's memories like that?"

"I've told her that many times, it never seems to work though."

"Well, that's alright then. See ya."


	9. Training Regimen

When Ash was returning to their campsite he heard Brock say "Weedle, use string shot on the ground to dodge."

Ash thought to himself *huh, Brock is calling out attacks for Weedle.* Then he heard Misty call out "Surskit, use water pulse." Ash, reached the clearing as he saw Surskit generate a ball of water about a foot in diameter and launch it at Weedle. Needless to say, Weedle fainted.

Brock seeing Weedles rapid demise said to Misty "you know, you're getting good in using Surskit in battle, but all you've been doing with Weedle is using it for target practice."

"I know, I just can't really get over it."

Brock sighed and said "well you're jus..." when he got interrupted by Ash saying "well, just hurry up and evolve it then."

"But then it'd just be a bigger bug" Misty stated.

Brock said "actually, Ash's right. You said that you're scared of bugs because they crawl around on the ground, right?"

"Well, yeah, I might've said something like that."

"Then it's the perfect solution."

"Misty sighed and said "I guess you're right." Weedle at this point, for whatever reason (possibly hearing, to its mind, Misty's declaration of faith in him) started to glow white. When the light died down what emerged was no longer a Weedle, but a Kakuna.

Misty, dumbfounded, asked no one in particular "uh, is that what I think it is."

"It sure is, your Weedle evolved into Kakuna."

"Why?"

"It must have heard us talking."

"Well, how do I get it to evolve again?"

"Let me just look up my pokedex and we'll see."

Ash then looked up Kakuna in the pokedex and it came back with "Kakuna remains virtually immobile as it clings to a tree. However, on the inside, it is extremely busy as it prepares for its coming evolution. This is evident from how hot the shell becomes to the touch." Ash then looked up how it evolves and the pokedex came back with "traditionally, Kakuna attach themselves to, and draw nutrients from trees prior to evolution. Do you wish any information on Beedrill?"

"No, that's enough."

"So, what I have to do is to place it on a tree, right?"

"According to the pokedex, yes."

"Alright then" Misty said and she then went to the nearest tree and held her Kakuna up to it for 30 seconds or so, when she let go it stayed where it was. Misty then said "there we go, in a few days I'll have my very own Beedrill."

"With any luck" Ash added.

"What d'you mean 'with any luck'?

"I only mean that the pokedex didn't actually say how long it would take, at any rate, shouldn't you be training Surskit while you wait?"

"Oh yeah, right" Misty said.

"D'you mind if I'm your opponent?"

"Not at all, why?" Misty asked.

"I want to get a feel for battling with Houndour."

"You mean you actually caught one?"

"Well, more like it had no choice."

"What do you mean by that?" Misty asked dangerously.

"If it hadn't come with me willingly Lucario was going to 'punish' it with a bone rush to the back."

"Uh, that's alright then."

"Good to know" Ash said sarcastically.

Brock then asked Ash "don't you think that Houndour might be a little too much for Surskit?"

"No, it'll be fine."

"Well, alright then."

"Ok, Houndour, come on out" Ash said, throwing Houndours pokeball in the air. Ash, standing opposite Misty and her Surskit said calmly, almost arrogantly, "alright Misty, I'll let you go first."

"My pleasure Ash, I'll be sure to make it a good one. Surskit, use water gun." Misty's Surskit then let out a powerful stream of water from its mouth. Ash however said in a calm voice "Houndour, use flamethrower." The attacks cancelled each other out and the area got covered in a cloud of steam caused by the two attacks. Now to Ash's horror the steam seemed to act like rain and activated Surskits ability, 'Swift Swim,' which increases Surskits speed in the rain. Ash then heard Misty call out "water pulse."

Ash, remembering the stunt that he pulled to save Chimchar in the tag-team tournament in the Sinnoh region called out "Houndour, use iron tail to break that move in two." Unfortunately Ash's Houndour didn't know how to use iron tail, so, even though it's dark type abilities did dilute the some of the damage, it did still take massive amounts of damage due to it's being a fire type.

Ash then said "alright, that's enough for now. Houndour," Houndour went over to Ash, who then said "you did great buddy." Ash then saw that Houndour was looking at him with a look of derision on his face and said "don't give me that look. I'm serious, we were up against a water type & Misty is a great trainer that specialises in water types. That said though, we'll get them next time." Houndour then looked at Ash with what appeared, to Misty and Brock, like happiness, Ash knew however that it was a look of determination. Ash then said "right, now the first thing that I'm going to do is to teach you a move that is good against..." whilst walking off, away from Brock and Misty.

When Ash was far enough away (out of earshot) Misty said to Brock "what moves does Ash know how to teach to a Pokémon?"

Brock answered her question by rhetorically asking Misty "you don't really think that Ash could have travelled through all those regions and not have picked up a few trick here and there, do you?"

"I suppose not" Misty answered.

While Misty was questioning Brock about Ash's technique training abilities Ash had made it to a clearing that he had seen from Pidgeot's back. He then said "alright Houndour, I want you to watch Pikachu's tail as he uses iron tail, alright?" Houndour barked in acknowledgement and Ash continued "alright Pikachu, use iron tail on one of those branches" whilst pointing to an oak tree. Pikachu acknowledged Ash's command and then its tail started glowing. Ash looked down at Houndour and said "you see how Pikachu's tail is glowing?" Houndour signified that it did and Ash continued "well, that's a move called iron tail and that's what you're going to be learning. It's a good move that is not only good against rock types, which fire types aren't very strong against, it can also split water attacks in half." Houndour then communicated its readiness to learn iron tail. Ash then turned to Pikachu, who by this time had cut off the branch that Ash had been pointing at and said "alright Pikachu, now I need you to cut off a smaller section of it so that we can strengthen Houndours tail." Pikachu did as commanded and then Ash tied the block of wood to Houndours tail with some string that he bought whilst he was waiting for Growlithe to be healed. Ash turned to Houndour and said "now, you need to pull that block up and down until your tail starts glowing like Pikachu's was, Pikachu, I'll leave Houndours training to you." Houndour and Pikachu both looked to Ash as if questioning what he was going to be doing and Ash answered "I'll be working on something with Infernape, alright?" Pikachu and Houndour accepted Ash's reasoning and proceeded to work on perfecting iron tail. Ash went a little way away from them and then, taking Infernapes pokeball out from his belt, he pointed it away from himself and said "come on out Infernape." When Infernape came out of its pokeball Ash said "alright, we're going to be working on getting you to learn how to use..."


	10. Arrival of a Rival

First of all, the the chapter ten that was previously posted was actually incomplete, so here is the completed version

5 days later the appeals round of the Saffron City Contest begin. Ash saw Misty looking nervous waiting for her turn and said "hey Misty, calm down, you've trained hard and done your best to prepare for this contest, you'll be fine."

"But what if I mess up in the appeals round and don't even make it into the battle roun..."

"Misty, you're a Gym Leader; just treat it as if you're going to face another challenger."

"You're right Brock, I can do this." At that point the announcer, heard in the waiting room by a PA system, said "and now, we have a new appearance on the Contest scene, but she's no unknown people, I present to you, the Cerulean City Gym Leader, Misty!"

"Well, here goes" Misty sighed and then left the waiting room. When she got to just past the stage entrance, where the audience could see her, the crowd went absolutely wild; seeing this Misty got a huge smile on her face, waved to the crowd and all of her fears disappeared. She then moved to the centre of the stage and called out "come on out, Masquerain" whilst lobbing a pokeball in the air.

Misty, unbeknownst to Ash, had attached a ball capsule to her Masquerains pokeball and said to Brock "she's pulling out all the stops on this one, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she sure is. She doesn't want to screw this up as, in her opinion, it might throw doubts onto her abilities as a Gym Leader and in doing so, throw the Cerulean City Gym into disrepute."

"If her sisters are left alone for long enough it'll happen anyway."

"Nevertheless that's what was causing Misty to be so nervous before."

"I see. Hey, I didn't know that Misty's Surskit had evolved."

"Yeah, it evolved three days ago. You were too busy training Houndour to pay too much attention to what Misty and I were doing."

"I guess so, I was working with Infernape at the same time though, so I guess that it just ate up all of my time, trying to create this new powerful attacking move."

"Really, what is it?"

"Well, it's actually more of a combination attack really."

"Combination, of what?"

"Well, first of all I needed to get Infernape to learn _fire punch_, so that took me two and a half days. Then, well, the next part isn't really completed yet."

"Well, what is it, who knows, Misty and l might be able to help."

"Well, now I need to get Infernape to be able to hold onto the fire, even after it hits its opponent. But that can wait, Misty's starting."

Ash and Brock heard Misty call out "alright Masquerain, use _water pulse_ and aim it at the sky." Masquerain sent an orb of water sky high and Misty continued "alright, now use _silver wind._"

Masquerain then aimed _silver wind_ at the orb of water that was starting to fall to the ground. When _silver wind_ got to the orb it flicked opposite sides of it, holding it up in the air, the _silver wind_ then made the orb start to glow, like a miniature moon; the orb of water then exploded in mid air and the water refracted the light of the spotlights aimed at the stage causing an aurora-like effect. Needless to say, the crowd was stunned by the display; their inaction, after about twenty seconds, got replaced by cheers and roars of approval for the show that she had just put on.

When it came time for the judging, Mr. Contesta said "an astounding understanding and use of move type vulnerabilities and how they can be used."

Nurse Joy said "that display showed an excellent display of knowledge of water types and their move sets."

The mayor of Saffron City, who was the third judge, said "an amazing use of the artificial lighting provided, I'm sure that we'll see Misty accomplish great things on the contest scene."

The announcer then called out "and for the second coordinator, we have, in contrast to the rookie that just gave us an astounding display, we have someone whose not only competed in the Hoenn contests, where she just missed out on qualifying for the Grand Festival, but she actually made it to the Sinnoh Grand Festival. So, give it up for Jessilina"

Brock and Ash looked at each other and simultaneously said "what?"

"I thought that Jessie James and Meowth were through with following us, I think that I'll go and have a little talk with Jessie."

"Maybe she's just here for the contest" Brock suggested.

Ash replied "you believe that as little as I do Brock."

"Yeah, but wait till after her turn rather than just denouncing her now."

"Probably a good idea."

"Oh, it looks like she's done too" Ash said, hearing the judges giving their comments on the performance. Once the judges were done Ash and Brock left their seats to go backstage. When they got there Ash said "alright, you go talk to Misty while I talk to Jessie."

"Ok, why?"

"Because, you were the one that was training with her all week "

"Sure thing, see ya."

Ash then went up to Jessie and said "hey Jessie, long time no see."

"Agh" Jessie exclaimed in shock "it's the twerp."

"I'd really rather you didn't call me that."

"Sorry, old habits you know."

"Yeah; so are you still following me around or it just a coincidence?"

"Believe me, we're not after you anymore, not after all the times you've trounced us with that damn dragon of yours."

"That's good to know."

"Why's that?"

"It means that I don't have to 'blast you off again', just don't try anything, alright."

"Got it, as I said, we're tired of getting dragon pulse and thunderbolted into the upper atmosphere."

"Well, I know this'll sound weird, but good luck in the contest" Ash said walking away. When he got to where Brock and Misty were he was just in time to see that both Jessie and Misty had made it through to the battle round. He said to Misty "see, I told you you could do it."

"Yeah, I just somehow calmed down when I got out there."

"Well, no time to rest, your match is up first."

"Really? That's just great" Misty said sarcastically.

"That's enough of that Misty."

"Yeah, sorry" Misty said sheepishly.

"So, what Pokémon are you going to use?"

"You'll just have to wait and see Ash Ketchum."

"Ri-i-ight, well, see you after you've won this thing then."

"Yeah, sure thing Ash."

Ash and Brock then left the waiting room and returned to their seats. Just as they were sitting down the announcer said "alright people, the first match of the battle round is between the rookie Misty, the Cerulean City Gym Leader and Max, the son of the Gym Leader of Petalburg City in the Hoenn region."

In the stands Ash and Brock simultaneously said "Max!" Ash then continued "what's he doing here, I thought that he wanted to challenge the regional leagues."

"Well, you'll just have to ask him about it after his battle with Misty."

"I guess so."

Whilst Ash and Brock were talking in the stands Max had said to himself "alright, I'm up against a water Pokémon specialist, if that's the case..." then, louder, he said "alright Sceptile, I choose you."

Ash, in the stands exclaimed "he has a Sceptile."

Brock said "it's not all that surprising really, he was always particularly enamoured by yours Ash. It's just unfortunate for him that we managed to convince Misty to catch types that can cover her water Pokémon's weaknesses."

Misty down on the stage said "trying to use my reputation against me are you max?"

"The aim of a contest is to come up with strategies to counter the opponents Pokémon."

"That sounds like the philosophy of a gym challenger to me Max."

"A battle is a battle no matter what form it takes."

"Not always Max."

"What do you mean?"

"Only this..." Misty said confidently "...come on out, Vulpix."

The announcer said "in a stunning move and outthinking her opponent Misty has gone out and caught the fire type Pokémon Vulpix."

Joy said "an outstandingly strategic move."

"It shows that she was really thinking ahead" the mayor said.

Max said to himself "I wasn't expecting this I must say. Ah well, I can't get sidetracked just because she surprised me. After all, I did finish in the top sixteen in the Hoenn League."

"So, you finished in the top sixteen in your first Pokémon league competition?" Misty asked Max.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh nothing, it just seems to me that you're just copying Ash's achievements."

"What was that!" Max angrily asked.

Misty, for some reason, saw a translucent image of Ash standing behind Max. She then said "right, well, the banter's over now Max."

"Very well then..." Max said "Sceptile, _Quick Attack_ into _Leafblade._"

Max's Sceptile charged a leafblade, gaining a long green blade on the outside of its arm, moved off gaining a white afterimage. Ash turned to Brock and said "hey, doesn't Max's strategy look awfully similar to the one that I used to use?"

"No, it's not similar, it's exactly the same. The problem is that he's trying to use normal battle tactics against an especially skilled Gym Leader."

"Not to mention the type disadvantage" Ash finished.

Down on the stage Misty merely said "Vulpix, use flamethrower."

"Oh no..." Max said "Sceptile, quickly, change direction." Unfortunately for Max Sceptile was moving too fast and was nowhere near far enough away from Misty's Vulpix to dodge its devastating attack. Sceptile, when it landed, was declared unable to battle and the victory was awarded to Misty.

Ash and Brock went down to the waiting room and, when they got there, they went to talk to Max and Misty, who were talking about Max's adventures in challenging the Hoenn League. Ash went up to Max and said "hey Max, that was an interesting combination you pulled out there."

"Yeah, but it wasn't anywhere near enough."

"Of course it wasn't" Ash said.

"Ash, what are you doing" Misty asked excitedly.

Ash turned to Misty and said "what has to be done Misty."

"What do you mean Ash" Max asked.

"I mean, I used that exact same strategy against your father Max, do you remember what happened then?"

"Well, not exactly."

"Pikachu got absolutely humiliated trying to use speed attacks against a Slakoth, and you're trying to do the same thing against, not only another Gym Leader, but one that has a type advantage over Sceptile."

Max got sent into tears at Ash's reprimanding of him and ran out of the room. Misty yelled at Ash "well, I hope your proud of yourself."

Brock interrupted Misty's rant before it got started by saying "it may have been a bit harsh Misty, but you know that Ash's right. Max shouldn't have tried to do what he did. I'll go and talk to him and try to calm him down."

"Thanks Brock" Ash said.

"I guess you're right...again" Misty sighed.


	11. Explanation and Victory

Outside the contest hall Max was sitting down on a bench, looking down at his feet with his head in his hands. When Brock got there and saw how Max was sitting he thought to himself *hmm, he's depressed, still, it's not that surprising considering Ash's actions back there.* He then moved so that he was standing in front of Max and waited until he was looking at him and asked "do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but it'd be better if I did, wouldn't it..." Max rhetorically asked Brock. Brock sensed that it was rhetorical but nodded anyway. Max then continued "...before I came out here to Kanto May and I got into a massive fight over which type of competition was more difficult; now as Misty said in there, I'm a trainer and May, as you know is a coordinator. Anyway, she said that trainer techniques and tactics have no place in contests."

"So you entered this contest to prove your sister wrong."

"Yeah, and then Ash yelled at me for the same thing."

"I see, well, I can't tell you the reason behind the fight that you had with your sister, but Ash, in his own way, was actually trying to help you."

"Really, how is that?"

"Ash was trying to make you realize that at times the strategies that you would normally use have to change before it's too late. Now you knew that Misty was a Gym Leader, but you still underestimated her prowess because this was her first contest, didn't you?"

"I guess; but what I still don't understand is, why was Misty entering a contest in the first place?"

"heh, that one I can answer. You see, Misty's sisters were slacking off in their duties as Gym Leaders, so Misty, hearing that Ash was going to challenge her gym once again, asked Ash to 'motivate' her sisters to focus more on their Pokémon training rather than their synchronised swimming shows."

"So what did Ash do?"

"Heh, what do you think he did,..." Max shook his head "...Ash actually proceeded to wage a contest battle against the three of them, using some of Misty's strongest Pokémon."

"Did he win?"

"Yeah, he won alright; and he took out all three of them with just one of his water types."

"Wow, maybe coordinators do have it tougher."

"That's not it Max. Gym battles and Contests require completely different skill sets."

"But you just said..."

"Ash uses contest tricks to supplement his battling skills."

"What?"

"Well, Ash is always going to be a trainer and May is always going to be a coordinator, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Why?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed that may, in some of her strategies, uses battling techniques that are far more suited for Gym Battles."

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Tell me Max, with all we've just talked about, who do you think would win a battle between May and Ash?"

"Well, Ash is the more experienced trainer, so..."

"Actually, that may not be the case anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Ash just took two years off from challenging any Regional Leagues."

"I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything about Ash in the Pokémon League Tournaments for a few... wait a minute, so you're saying that Ash and my sister have actually been competing for roughly the same amount of time now?"

"Just about, yeah."

"Well, if Ash hasn't been competing for any significant length of time then I'd say that may would probably win."

"I said Ash hasn't competed in any official matches Max, what do you think he's been doing?"

"Well, he'd probably be..." Max's eyes widened at the realisation that Ash had been doing nothing other than training his Pokémon for over two years. He then said "so he's been training all this time?"

"Yeah."

"Then all his Pokémon have probably evolved then."

"From what I've seen, yes."

"well, all of May's Pokémon are also fully evolved now, along with catching a bunch of new ones. That would actually be a match that I'd like to see, come to think of it, the last time that they competed it was a draw wasn't it?"

"Yeah, for the Terracotta Town Medal."

"I think that I could probably call her over for a..."

"Now now, there's no need for that. Both you and Ash are heading for the Indigo Pokémon League, right? I'm sure that she'll be here for that."

"Oh yeah, you're right" Max said laughingly.

"Now, let's get back inside, there's a spare seat next to Ash's and mine."

"Thanks for the talk Brock."

"No problem. How many of the Kanto badges do you have?"

"None, I only got here a few days ago and I heard that this contest was on, so I came here."

"Is that so, then you might want to check out the Pewter City Gym or the Cerulean City Gym."

"Doesn't this city have a Gym in it?"

"Yeah, but I'd advise against going there just yet."

"Why's that?"

"You see, the Saffron City Gym Leader is a ghost type user."

"So I need a way to combat ghost types then."

"I think that she also had an Alakazam, so you also need a way to battle psychic types with some psychic abilities of her own."

"Right, well let's go now, or we'll miss the final rounds."

They got to the stands just in time to hear Misty, out on the battlefield, call out "Vulpix, use _Quick Attack_ and change it into an _Iron Tail._" They saw Vulpix start to move rapidly causing a white streak to appear in its wake along with seven glowing tails. When Vulpix reached the opposing Pokémon it swung around and rammed uts glowing tail into it. After Vulpix had struck it the opponents Pokémon rolled back and hit the wall behind its trainer, who, concerned for his Pokémon, called out "Geodude!"

The announcer then had no choice other than to announce "with an amazing combination of _Quick Attack_ and _Iron Tail_ Misty has knocked out the opponents Geodude in the final round of the Saffron City contest in one move, that makes her the proud owner of the Saffron City ribbon."

Misty, in shock, said "I won... I actually won?"

The Nurse Joy on the judging panel said "you can really tell that Misty has brought all of her skill in battling to this contest. I'm sure that if she continues to take part in contests that she'll go far.

Mr Contesta said "A disappointing final round, but I'm sure that the runner up learned something from that battle."

The mayor of Saffron City was too stunned at what happened to say anything.

In the stands Brock said "well, I wasn't expecting to see that."

"See what?" Max asked.

"A Geodude in a contest Max."

"Why's that?"

"Because, the only really effective moves that it has are _Earthquake, Rockslide _and, at times, _Rollout_, and they don't learn any of them until a pretty high level_._"

"Oh yeah, you're right."

"Even then they don't really belong on the contest stage though."

"Well, let's go backstage and congratulate Misty."

"Yeah, let's go."

When they got there they saw Ash saying to Misty "now look, I said what I said because Max needs to realise that using speed against an opponent that is equally fast and has a type advantage is not going to work."

"You still didn't need to be so rude about it."

Ash then saw Max and Brock coming their way and said "hey Max, Brock." The two that Ash greeted nodded in acknowledgment and Ash continued on to say "Max, I'm sorry for eating you out like that before."

Max replied "no no, you were right, I used the wrong strategy and a trainers job is to adapt to different situations and changing circumstances."

Misty remarked "that's very mature of you Max."

"Heh heh thanks Misty" said Max, scratching the back of his head. He then turned to face Ash and said "by the way, I'm sorry about the way I acted before."

"That's fine, why did you run off anyway?"

"May and I had a fight before I came out to Kanto."

"Really, what about?"

"Gym Battles vs. Contests."

"Ah, I see" Ash said as if that explained everything. He then continued saying "so, who won?"

"No-one, I was trying to prove that May was wrong when I was out there and that's why I lost."

"That's not the only reason you lost though Max."

"I know."

"So, where're you going to start out?"

"I was thinking about challenging the Gym Leader here."

"Really! You know that Sabrina uses both ghost and psychic types, right?"

"Yeah, I think I can handle her."

"Alright, tell you what. I'll let you challenge her first."

"Gee whiz, thanks" Max said in a dry tone.

"Do you mind if we..." Ash indicated himself, Brock and Misty "...watch your match?"

"No problem, I think it'd be kind of fun for the shoe to be on the other foot for once."

"Thanks. Why don't we go over there now then?"

"Well, Misty's Pokémon are..."

Misty interrupted Max saying "don't mind me, I can take my Pokémon over to the Pokémon Centre for Nurse Joy to have a look at them by myself and meet up with you guys later."

"Ok, bye" Max, Ash and Brock said simultaneously, waving goodbye to Misty going in opposite directions as they reached the outside.


	12. Max vs Sabrina

When Ash, Max and Brock arrived at the Saffron City Gym Max went up to the door and yelled out "I challenge you." the door mysteriously opened by itself and the three trainers stepped forward, entering the gym.

When they arrived at the battlefield Sabrina was standing in the Gym Leaders box waiting for them to appear, when they did she said in a dramatic tone "who is challenging me today?"

Max replied "I am" in a confident tone.

Ash addressed Sabrina asking "Uh, you don't mind if we watch do you?"

"No."

Brock said "uh, do you mind NOT turning us into dolls if Max loses this time?"

"Turn you into dolls, I haven't done anything like that in years. As a matter of fact, the last people that I turned into dolls were, hmm, let me see...ah, that's right. A trainer from Pallet Town's friends, Brock and uh, what was her name again...ah, that's right...Foggy."

Unfortunately for Sabrina, Misty came into the room just in time to hear her bungle her name. Misty, hearing Sabrina get her name horrendously wrong shrieked "MY NAME IS MISTY, M-I-S-T-Y, MISTY; The Cerulean City Gym Leader."

"Oh ri-i-ight, Misty. Hey, didn't I hear a rumour recently that someone just swept your gym with only one Pokémon?"

"Yeah, but it was my sisters that were battling at the time."

"A Gym Battle's a Gym Battle, no matter who the participating Gym Leader is."

"That's a convenient way of looking at it."

"I think I also heard that the trainer used a water Pokémon to do it too."

"Yeah, uh, that was me..." Ash said "...do you think that we can get to Max's Gym Battle now?"

Max walked up to the challengers box and, looking at the judge, asked "so, what are the rules for this Gym?"

The judge replied "the trainers will each use to Pokémon, only one Pokémon per trainer is allowed to be on the field at one time. The battle will continue until both trainers Pokémon are unconscious, or declared unable to battle. There is no time limit. The gym leader May call out their Pokémon."

"Come on out, Mismagius."

Max said to himself "Mismagius huh, alright then." In a louder voice, he called out "I choose you, Mightyena" throwing a pokeball away from himself.

Ash quietly said to Misty and Brock "so, Max caught himself a Mightyena. Normally it would be a good matchup against a ghost type like Mismagius, but Mismagius can use moves other than Psychic/Ghost moves."

"Yeah, Max is really going to have to watch out for this one" Brock said.

Max, on the battlefield, called out "Okay Mightyena, use _Shadowball._"

"Use confusion" Sabrina ordered her Mismagius.

"Psychic type moves don't work on Mightyena" Max informed Sabrina.

"Who said that I was aiming for Mightyena?"

Max started to say "what do you..." but trailed off when he looked up to see the _Shadowball_ had somehow been stopped in midair. Max said "I see, well then, in that case, Mightyena, before she can do anything with it, use dark pulse and aim it at the _Shadowball_.

Misty asked no one in particular "what good will that do?"

"I wonder if Max is trying to use _Dark Pulse_ in a similar manner that I used _Counter Shield_ against Fantina with Chimchar."

"What do you mean Ash?"

"Allow me to explain" said Brock, seeing Ash nod, Brock continued "you see Misty, when Ash was in the Sinnoh region, he fought against another Ghost type Gym Leader and she tried to use a  
_Will-O-Wisp _to block Ash's _Flamethrower_, but Ash used the _Will-O-Wisp _to power up Chimchar's move."

"Wow, I didn't realise that an opponent's move could be utilised in such a way."

"I told Max before that Ash uses Contest-like techniques to augment his battling style and his sister does the opposite."

"Why'd you do that?"

"He and his sister got into a fight over which was more difficult, Gym Battles or Contests."

"And then I go off and beat him in one move."

"Yeah."

"I almost feel bad for beating him now."

"Don't, look..." Brock said, pointing at the battlefield "...if anything it seems to have gotten him more focused on what to do, and what not to do in a battle."

Misty saw what Brock meant when she turned to look at the battle as she saw the _Dark Pulse_ that Max had told Mightyena to use hit the _Shadowball_ and grew bigger by absorbing it and it also, at the same time, changed colour into, what seemed to be, a deep green that seemed to make Mismagius flinch and when the blast died down it was shown that Mismagius had been knocked out.

"Well well, you are better than the average trainers that we get around here."

"Thanks... I think."

"Well, let's see how you deal with this...go Sableye" Sabrina said whilst throwing the pokeball in the air.

"Sableye huh, well then, Mightyena return" Max said pointing Mightyena's pokeball at it. Max then reached around his back and pulled a pokeball from his belt; he threw it away from him, calling out "come on out, Shiftry."

"Shiftry, what are you thinking Max!" Misty called out.

Max looked at Misty said "I'll be fine."

Misty then mumbled to herself "if you say so."

Max then turned back to the battlefield and said "I'll even let you make the first move Sabrina."

"Why thank you Max...Sableye, use _Sunny Day._"

"_Sunny Day_, but that's only going to make Shiftry's grass attacks stronger."

"Really...my mistake, what WAS I thinking" Sabrina said in a sarcastic tone.

Max replied "I don't know. Shiftry, use _Leafstorm_."

"Sableye, use confusion."

"Psychic moves don't work on Shiftry either" Max said, pushing up his glasses.

Sabrina sighed, saying "still jumping to conclusion, aren't you Max?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look."

Max looked up and saw that the leaves from his attack had been stopped in mid-air. In surprise he exclaimed "you stopped my move again!"

"Very observant of you...Sableye, return the leaves at a faster rate than they were fired at." After all the leaves had impacted with Shiftry, Sabrina said "now Sableye, use _Fire Punch_."

To the surprise of everyone, other that Sabrina, who had actually taught Sableye the attack, and Ash, who had, with his experience in gym battles, come to expect Gym Leaders to have some way of dealing with the weaknesses of their Pokémon. Sableye rushed forward with two flame covered fists, which it implanted into Shiftry's torso, knocking it out.

Max said "Shiftry return," pointing Shiftry's pokeball at it, disappointed that he had gotten so caught up in type advantages. He then reached for Mightyena's pokeball and said "well, I guess it's up to you again...Mightyena, let's do this."

"Sableye, use _Fire Punch_ again to end this bout."

"It's not a fighting type gym. Mightyena, use _Sucker Punch_ followed up by _Crunch_."

When Sableye was three quarters of the way to Mightyena, Mightyena disappeared from its sight before reappearing at its side just before it hit it with its hind legs. The hit made Sableye stumble and lose its focus, thereby putting an end to the _Fire Punch_ that it had gathered power for. Mightyena then rushed at Sableye and bit it with such force that it fainted almost immediately.

The judge of the match then had no choice but to announce "the winner of the battle is Mightyena and as such the winner of this Gym Battle is the challenger."

Sabrina walked over to Max and said "That was a good match Max, I now present you with the Marsh Badge. That is the proof that you were victorious in battle against me."

Max then did some ridiculous pose stating "alright, I got the Marsh Badge."

Ash Misty and Brock made their way over from the stands and Ash said "Sabrina, I'd like to challenge you to a Gym Battle if that's alright."

"You're challenging the Kanto Gyms again Ash?" Sabrina asked, shocked by the information.

"Yeah, I actually think that battling you tomorrow would be a better idea though."

"Why tomorrow? It would be far more advantageous for you to challenge me to a battle now."

"The answer to that is easy. There would be no point to my challenging the gyms again if I did something like that."

"I see, so you want to fight me when I'm at my best do you?"

"Exactly."

"Very well then, I hope that you bring your best game tomorrow then."

"I will, and don't you underestimate me because of what happened last time."

Max, not knowing Ash's history with the Saffron City Gym, asked "what do you mean, what happened last time?"

"Uh, we'll tell you later, okay Max?"

"Well, okay."

"I'll see you tomorrow Sabrina" ash said, waving goodbye as he walked off. Brock, Misty and Max followed Ash, leaving the Saffron City Gym, heading towards the Pokémon Centre to get Max's Pokémon looked at.


	13. Ash vs Sabrina

The next day saw Ash, Brock, Misty and Max standing outside the Saffron City Gym. Ash knocked on the door, shouting "Sabrina...Sabrina, I'm here for our battle." The door swung open and Ash said "she really does like her theatrics, doesn't she."

Brock replied "yeah, apparently so. I'd watch out all the same though. Something tells me that you'll have a tougher time of it than Max did yesterday."

"We'll see." Soon enough they arrived at the battlefield and Ash said to Sabrina "it's time to battle" in a confident tone.

Sabrina echoed Ash's statement by saying "indeed, it is time to battle... go, Gengar" whilst throwing a pokeball in the air.

Ash, seeing that Gengar seemed to be playing around rather than preparing for a battle said "hey, is that..." trailing off toward the end.

"Your Haunter, why yes it is" Sabrina replied to Ash's half asked question.

"So, I'll be battling against my own Pokémon for a badge then...heh, that's something that I never thought that I'd see happen."

"Yes well, there's a first time for everything as the old saying goes."

"Indeed, well I think that I'll choose..." Ash's voice then increased in volume while saying "...Houndoom."

"Misty gasped and said "Houndoom evolved!"

"Apparently" Max said in a droll tone.

"But he's only had it for less than a week" Misty, still shocked, exclaimed.

Max asked "so is Ash just going around evolving all his Pokémon as soon as he can now?"

Brock answered "I don't think so Max. It's probably that Ash just finally realised the difference in power between a pre-evolved Pokémon and an evolved one."

"I don't know..." Max trailed off disbelieving what Brock was saying.

"Well, when we were travelling around the Sinnoh region he caught a Gible that was trying to learn _Draco Meteor_."

"Really, what happened?"

"nothing, it was having too hard a time trying to collect enough energy for any of its attacks and got easily exhausted and even when it was using _Dragon Pulse_ it fell down straight away. The only moves that it could use continuously were dig and _Rock Smash_."

"Really, what'd he do?"

"Everything he tried failed, so he ended up evolving it into Gabite and the problems that it was having disappeared immediately."

"I see."

"Ash still believes that any Pokémon can be strong if you train them correctly, it's just that now all of his Pokémon are evolved...well, except for Pikachu of course."

"Well, alright then."

"You've found that as well though, haven't you Max?"

"Well, I guess so. But I still only made it to the top sixteen."

Brock sighed and said "don't worry about it, you'll do better next time Max."

"I just hope that I don't run up against Ash too soon in the Indigo League."

"I'm sure you'll be fine."

While the conversation between Brock and Max had been going on, Ash had called out "Houndoom, use _Flamethrower_." A stream of fire shot out at Sabrina's Gengar from Houndooms mouth.

Sabrina ordered "Gengar, use _Confusion_."

"This again, you're going to need some new tricks..." Ash said, annoyed at Sabrina using the same tactic over and over again, before continuing "...Houndoom, widen the flame."

"What?" Sabrina called out.

Ash's Houndoom made the stream of fire hotter, as well as about 10cm wider in diameter. This had the effect of negation the _Confusion_ that Sabrina had used to take control of Houndooms attack, as the psychic energy used in the _Confusion _had been too small to contain the larger flame. The flames then impacted with Gengar, causing massive amounts of damage due to the intense heat. It also left Gengar burnt. Ash said to Sabrina "I thought that you'd try to use that trick against me and I hypothesized that you had trained your Pokémon so well in that trick, that it had it down almost to an art form and only use just enough energy to control the technique used against it. Apparently I was right."

"Very clever Ash, it appears that you have come a long way since the first time that we battled."

"Gee, thanks Sabrina."

"Too bad that I have to end this" Sabrina said "Gengar, use hypnosis."

"Houndoom, use _Fire Shield_ to block it."

"_Fire Shield_, what is that" Brock rhetorically asked.

The gathered audience, to their shock, saw Houndoom release a _Fire Spin_, but about two metres away from it, it spread out into a circular shape about two metres wide made out of massive amounts of spinning fire. The audience gasped at Ash's ingenuity in creating such an awesome defensive move. With Houndooms view of Gengar eliminated, the hypnosis failed. Ash then said "alright Houndoom, now use _Shield Smash_." Houndoom then sent the shield of fire flying towards Gengar, whose trainer was so shocked at having her move blocked in such a way, that she didn't give Gengar a command and the _Shield Smash_ slammed into Gengar, knocking it out.

The judge said "Gengar is unable to battle, Houndoom is the winner."

Ash, at the same time as Sabrina, pointed a pokeball at Houndoom, saying "Houndoom return." When Houndoom had returned to its pokeball, Ash said "good work Houndoom, you should take a rest now."

Sabrina said "go, Banette," throwing a pokeball in Ash's direction.

"Pikachu, it's your turn" Ash said calmly.

"Why didn't Ash keep Houndoom out, it would be far more effective than Pikachu against a ghost type like Banette?" Max asked no-one in particular.

"Well, I suppose it's because Pikachu has participated in all of Ash's gym battles against ghost types and when we were travelling around the Sinnoh Region Pikachu managed to take out almost all of one of the gym leaders' ghost types by itself."

"This should be a good battle then, you might be able to learn something from this Max" Misty said.

The onlookers then heard Sabrina say "alright Ash, I'll let you go first this time."

"Alright, Pikachu, use _Quick Attack_."

Misty screamed out "what do you think you're doing Ash, normal attacks don't work against ghost types."

When Pikachu was halfway to Banette though, Ash called out "Pikachu, use _Iron Tail._"

Pikachu's tail immediately started to glow white and Sabrina called out "use _Discharge_ Banette." Multiple beams of electricity started to come out of Banette from multiple locations when Sabrina said "now, use psychic to control them." A pale blue glow surrounded the electricity generated by the _Discharge_ and Sabrina ordered "now use them to make a wall around you." Sabrina's Banette, to Ash's shock, thinned the controlled electricity to a thickness that was not much larger than a sheet of paper and, in doing so created sheets of blue electricity that Banette used to surround itself with.

Ash said to Pikachu "alright Pikachu, if she wants to play like that, fine!"

"Ash is losing it" Misty said to herself in the stands.

Max, hearing Misty, called out "calm down Ash."

Ash, hearing what Max said, got a weird look on his face and said "what do you mean, I'm fine."

"Eh, but Misty said..."

Ash said "we'll talk about it after I've won, alright?"

"Uh yeah, sure thing."

Ash then addressed Sabrina "sorry about that. Back seat battlers, what can you do?" Ash rhetorically asked, shrugging his shoulders. After saying this Ash heard a growl from Misty and thought *I'm going to pay for that one... ah well.* Then he simply said "Pikachu, use _Countershield_."

"What! _Countershield_, is that another one of his weird moves?" Sabrina asked in astonishment.

In the stands Misty was no less shocked at hearing that Pikachu could use _Countershield_ looked at Brock and exclaimed "_Countershield_, so Pikachu can use it as well?"

"Yeah" Brock answered.

"_Countershield_, I've never heard of it, and that's saying something" Max said.

While the conversation, or lack thereof, was going on in the stands Pikachu had started spinning on the ground and _Thunderbolts_ started appearing around it. When the _Thunderbolts___hit the wall of electricity surrounding Banette the colour of the electricity changed to a sickly green colour, as did the walls of electricity surrounding Banette. The walls suddenly swelled and collapsed around Banette, making the _Thunderbolts_ that Pikachu had used swell larger than it was originally. When it collided with Banette a large cloud of smoke surrounded the battlefield. When the smoke cleared and everybody gathered could see again they saw that Banette was lying on the ground with swirls in its eyes, knocked out by the supercharged electricity.

The judge said "alright, Banette is unable to battle, as such the winner of the battle is Pikachu and as the leader has no more Pokémon to use the Gym Battle goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

Ash walked over to Pikachu and said "well done buddy."

Pikachu then made a bunch of noises which, to Ash, meant "no problem, it was easy."

Sabrina came over to Ash and asked "what exactly was that move that you used to defeat Banette?"

Brock, Misty and Max also came over to Ash and Sabrina and Max added "yeah, what happened?"

"Well, you see, _Countershield_ is a move that I came up with to counter _Hypnosis,_ it just happens to work on other attacks as well."

"Even so, it should not have knocked my Banette out in one shot."

Ash, looking at Sabrina, replied "yes well, when _Countershield_ is used against an attack of its own element the power of the opponents attack gets added to the _Countershield_. It's basically a move that sends the opponents attack back at them, at the same time as attacking."

The trainers then said goodbye to Sabrina as they left the gym and went back to the Pokémon Centre.


	14. The Agua Fiesta

When they reached the Pokémon centre max said, "Hey, uh, I was wondering, would it be alright if I travelled with you guys for a while?"

Ash looked between Brock and Misty and, seeing them both shake their heads, said, "I'm sorry Max, but if you travel with us you may start to copy one of us in our habits, like what you did in that contest. Why don't you try to make some new friends while you're here, who knows, you might even find some that might want to go with you on your journey."

"Well, alright," Max said, head held down.

"Hey, buck up, when we meet at the Pokémon League Competition I'll give you that battle that you wanted."

Max said, "Alright, you better not let up in your training Ash, 'cause I'm gonna beat you," waving as he ran off.

Ash Misty and Brock went into the Pokémon centre. When they got to the front desk Brock entered 'pervert mode' and received a _Poison Jab_ to his backside, courtesy of Croagunk. Misty sighed and said, "You'll never learn, will you Brock?" Brock's only answer was a pain-induced groan.

Ash, ignoring his friend's frivolous actions, asked Nurse Joy, "Can you take a quick look at my Pokémon Nurse Joy?"

"Why certainly," Nurse Joy said, returning five minutes later with the Pokéballs that Ash had given her. "Your Pokémon are in perfect health, why did you want them checked out?"

"Well I just battled Sabrina and wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong with them before heading out."

"You do truly care about your Pokémon, don't you?"

"Well, yes. I like to think so."

"Then here, I just received a shipment of Heal Balls, and there are way too many for the workers at this Pokémon Centre, so I would like you and your friends to take one of them."

"Really?"

"Yes, I wouldn't make the offer otherwise."

"Okay then, sure," Ash said as Nurse Joy retrieved three of the Heal Balls from behind her desk. Ash Brock and Misty each took one of them and bade Nurse Joy farewell.

As they were leaving Saffron City to go to Vermillion City for Ash's next badge, Misty saw a poster attached to a lamppost that advertised a Water Pokémon Catching Competition being held in Lavender Town and squealed in delight. Ash and Brock looked at her as if she was crazy. Misty, seeing the looks, said, "Hey, I'm not crazy. It's just that The Agua Fiesta is being held in Lavender Town in two weeks!"

Ash and Brock simultaneously asked, "The Agua Fiesta? What's that?"

"The Agua Fiesta is a festival dedicated solely to Water Pokémon. In it there is a Water Pokémon Catching Competition. In the Water Pokémon Catching Competition they have Water Pokémon from every region, and I heard that there is going to be a Pokémon contest attached to it this year."

Ash drily asked, "Let me guess, you want to go to it?"

"Of course I want to go to it!"

Ash sighed and said, "well, I suppose that I can always wait an extra two weeks, after all, the Vermillion City Gym isn't going to just grow legs and run away now, is it?" Ash, Misty and Brock the turned back the way that they came and headed out of the eastern gate.

When Ash, Misty and Brock were walking down the road they came to a stall run by a man with a scratchy moustache. They turned to look at him and he said, "Why hello, good sirs, and ma'am, have I got the deal for you."

"Deal? What deal?" Misty asked, "Do you have that new shirt that I saw in Celadon City Department Stores brochure the other day, or maybe it's a new type of Pokéball, or..."

"No no, ma'am, it's far better than that, you see I've got the ticket to riches beyond your imagination."

Misty's eyes turned into dollar signs as she asked, "Riches?"

"Yes, you see, in this golden Pokéball..." the man produced a shiny Pokéball from a draw underneath his stall. "...Is the key. You see, due to the nature of this Pokéball the Pokémon gained the ability to lay golden eggs."

"Golden eggs, Really?" Misty eagerly asked.

"Yes yes, it lays golden eggs."

Misty's eyes narrowed and asked, "What kind of Pokémon is it?"

"It is the rarest of the rare, a Magikarp."

Misty's eyes turned red as she growled out, "Magikarp! I'll have you know that I'm the Cerulean City Gym Leader and I happen to know everything about that useless Pokémon! Now get out of here!" Misty then proceeded to kick the stall about a kilometre away, much to her satisfaction, the conman quickly following his cart. "There," Misty said, dusting off her hands, "that should teach him not to mess with Water Pokémon."

Ash sighed and said, "I doubt it," walking towards Lavender Town, followed quickly by Brock and Misty, who asked, "what do you mean by that Ash?" Ash replied, "I mean that that was the same guy that was selling Magikarp on the St. Anne."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and if, after eight years, he's still pulling the same stunt, then there's not much hope for him to change his ways."

"I guess so," Misty said.

"Well, forget him, what are you going to do in this contest that you're so dead-set on entering."

"Well, since it is The Agua Fiesta I figure that I'll use one of my water Pokémon. I know, Kingdra's ink would be ideal for a Pokémon Contest. Of course I'll have to practice really hard with Kingdra in the next two weeks, but if I go with Kingdra I can't go wrong."

"Alright then, as always we'll help you as much as we can," Brock volunteered.

"Hey hey, don't forget that _we_ need to train _our_ Pokémon as well Brock, you more so than me at the moment."

"Why's that Ash?"

"Because, with the exception of Pikachu all of my Pokémon are fully evolved and Shelgon will need a lot of work to evolve into Salamence. Of course, once Riolu's egg hatches that'll be another story altogether."

"Well, that's true," agreed Brock.

"Well, even if I say that I still need to work on battling with Garchomp."

"Well, that's true," said Brock.

Two days later they arrived in Lavender Town.


	15. To Celadon City

As soon as they arrived they headed to the Pokémon Centre. When they reached it Brock raced to the nurse joy at the desk and said, "Oh beauteous maiden, forever have I searched for one such as yourself so that I may finally gain...arrgh!...the pain!"

Misty, not wanting to let Croagunk have all the fun, grabbed Brock by his ear and dragged him away, saying, "The only thing that you'll be gaining mister is a sore back." Misty didn't stop dragging Brock along the ground until they were outside the Pokémon Centre and she could tear him a new one without upsetting the people and Pokémon inside.

Ash, at the desk, scratched the back of his head, smiled, and said, "Uh, sorry about that Nurse Joy, but my friend always does that."

"I...see..." Nurse Joy said.

"Well, at any rate we would like some rooms here if there are any."

"Why yes. Unfortunately though there are only two rooms remaining."

"Really?" Ash asked, disappointed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that."

Ash sighed and said, "Well I guess that we'll just have to find somewhere else to stay then."

"You might just have to, what was your name by the way?"

"Ash Ketchum ma'am."

"Ketchum...Ketchum...where have I heard that name before? Ah! You're the one that came in the Top Sixteen the first time that you competed in the Indigo League, aren't you?"

"Well, that was a long time ago."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Well, I decided to compete in the Indigo League again."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that if you've already got a complete set of badges then you don't need to get them again."

"Yeah, but I took a break from battling to raise my Pokémon and study up on some of the areas that I was lacking in."

"Really!" Nurse Joy asked, while thinking, '_He might be just what I need._'

"Well yeah. Gaining some knowledge on Pokémon healing techniques is just common sense. On my past journeys, well, this one too really, I had a friend with me who was a Pokémon breeder, so he knew all of that kind of stuff. But I realised something in my time off."

"Yes?"

"When I was in the mountainous region of Professor Oak's Ranch training with my Infernape, it fell and sprained its ankle and I had no idea what to do about it. In the end I just returned it to its Pokéball before heading back to the Professor's Lab, but if I hadn't been so close I would have had no idea what to do. So, when I got back I asked the professor to teach me about Pokémon healing techniques. Interestingly enough I also found a way to apply that knowledge in Pokémon battles."

Nurse Joy thought, '_Well, even a basic knowledge of Pokémon anatomy would assist in targeting specific areas of an opponent's body whilst in battle. It also helps taking care of a trainers Pokémon in day to day issues... he might _actually_ be able to do 'it'._' She said, "Ash I was wondering, if you're going around collecting Gym Badges, why are you here?"

"Oh that? Well Misty is the Gym Leader of Cerulean City's Gym and this is the first time that she's been able to get to the Agua Fiesta, so we came here."

"I see. Well you do know that it's in two weeks, right?"

"Yeah, but I think that Misty wants to get some training in for the contest that's being held during it."

"I see. Well, unless you have some other plans whilst you're waiting for the festival to start, would you terribly mind taking a letter to my niece in Celadon City?"

"No, I don't have any problems with tha..."

Just as Ash was agreeing with Nurse Joy's request a bright light shot out from his backpack. He didn't see it himself, but Nurse Joy did. She said, "There's a light coming out from your bag Ash."

Ash quickly took off his backpack and removed the shining egg from it. He then laid it down on the desk and waited for it to hatch. They didn't need to wait very long. As soon as it hatched Riolu looked up at Ash and, feeling a sense of power emanating from him, let out a sound and Ash said "You're going to come with me, how does that sound?" Riolu nodded eagerly, prompting Ash to take a Pokéball from his belt and tap Riolu with it. The ball didn't even shake once before it made a sound, signifying its capture. Ash said, "Alright, I caught Riolu!" before Riolu popped back out of its Pokéball. Ash looked at Riolu and asked, "Do you not like being in the Pokéball Riolu?" Riolu nodded. "Well, alright then, I suppose that you can stay out of it like Pikachu does. Although there's no way that you will be able to stay on my shoulder."

Riolu let out a grunt, as if asking, "_Why would I want to do that?_"

"Well, Pikachu likes to stay on my shoulder while we're on the road."

Riolu let a series of grunts, meaning, "_I see, well I want to be near a source of power. You emanate a massive amount of, albeit uncontrolled, power, but so does the earth, trees and sky._"

Ash smiled as he said, "Alright, but for now you and I are going to be taking a little trip on the back of another of my Pokémon." Ash then left the Pokécentre and told Brock and Misty what he was going to do and then left on Garchomp's back.


End file.
